


Preggo my Odo

by Shipwreckedjavert



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: /sort of/, Cuddling & Snuggling, Episode: s05e12 The Begotten, First Kiss, M/M, Mpreg, Nausicaans, Odo gets to be a dad tho, Odo has trouble with feelings (TM), Odo is drowning in emotion, Quark is brave sometimes, also!!, bless, but - Freeform, dont read this its stupid, he is a little bit pregnant, he so cute, hes not /actually/ pregnant, i guess??, im excited, odos sexless but whatever, okay odo's pregnant, there is now offically cuddling in this fic, y'all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-02-08 13:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12865788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shipwreckedjavert/pseuds/Shipwreckedjavert
Summary: (Coda for s5 ep12 The Begotten)Odo is fucking pregnant avoid this monstrosity of a fic at all costs.





	1. Reminders

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LyricDreamweaver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyricDreamweaver/gifts).



> Look.. The Begotten hurts too much so i fixed it by making it worse...  
> also this is unbeta'd except by me so theres probably a butt load of dumb mistakes in here

 

Odo had lost the changeling about a month ago. Regained his shapeshifting, rather. That's what  
everyone insisted on emphasizing, ' _think of it as a gift"'_ Dr. Mora had said, but really- Odo just felt empty. He could again know the joys of being a Tarkalean Hawk, a Terran iguana, or a Cardassian vole; but each shift was just a painful reminder. A reminder of all the things he would never be able to teach the changeling, all the things he would never see the changeling _become_.

 

  
Odo walked into Quark’s one evening, his shift was almost over and he usually made it a point to drop by before heading back to his quarters for the night.  
Odo stood in the doorway, arms folded over his chest, observing the night crowd. Well, crowd was a bit of an exaggeration.  
Quark caught Odo’s eye and smirked. He made his way over and leaned on the corner of the  
bar, “what can I do for you this evening Constable?”  
Ever since Odo had lost the changeling- regained his abilities- Quark had been nicer to him. Not  
nice _exactly_ , but he definitely didn't balk at Odo's presence in his bar as often, and was more accommodating in terms of offering up tidbits of Intel.  
Quark looked Odo up and down and gave him a strange questioning look.  
“What-” Odo unfolded his arms and returned Quark’s expression.  
“Are you feeling okay?” Quark was staring at his approximated abdomen.  
“I feel fine,” Odo continued to stare at Quark trying to figure out what he was so fixated on.  
“Its just- are you going for a beer belly look or-?”  
“Beer belly?” Odo looked down at his stomach area where a small chubby tummy was  
protruding slightly over his shifted pant waist. Odo stared at his stomach for a second wondering why he hadn't noticed he was doing that.  Odo shifted the bump flat and looked at Quark,  
“I'm fine.”  
Quark looked unconvinced.

 

-

  
The next morning, it was the same thing. Odo shifted into humanoid form and there was the  
small bump again. He shifted it away with no problem.  
Later that day, however, after a particularly exciting chase through the habitat ring after a Nausicaan raider, he sat down  
in his office chair and noticed the bump was back. He shifted it away but this time he was  
starting to worry about being sick again. Maybe the founders know about him regaining his  
abilities and still didn't want him to be a changeling. Odo could feel the rise of panic swelling  
within him. He got up and started pacing.  
The previous time when he had gotten sick was definitely different than this. He had barely been  
able to stand, let alone chase a Nausicaan across 12 sections of the station.  
He decided to wait and see what would happen. Bashir knew next to nothing useful about Odo's  
physiology and probably wouldn't be able to help, he steadfastly refused to contact Dr. Mora,  
and there was no way in hell that he would try contacting the founders for information. That left  
himself, and his investigation skills.  


 

-

 

Over the next the next 5 days Odo found it harder and harder to shift away the bump, and on top of that he could've sworn it had gotten bigger. He felt weird on top of everything; he couldn't focus on tasks, his mind would wander at random, and ultimately he felt sluggish mentally and physically.  
Odo had uncharacteristically avoided Quark's since that first night when he noticed his “beer belly,” but tonight Odo  
was actually in need of his _particular_ services.  

Cargo bay 3 had been ransacked the night before but the inventory from that day showed nothing was missing. Odo needed to know what Quark knew  
and he entered the bar from the second level, albeit reluctantly. He made a special point to  
focus on shifting the bump away, and he looked stiffer than usual as he stepped down the spiral  
staircase. He sat at the counter and relaxed slightly, the bump reappeared  
and an involuntary feeling of relief washed over him.

Quark noticed the changeling and walked over, his face sour. Odo pressed his body to the edge  
of the counter to shield his abdomen.  
Quark leaned on the counter near Odo. “If you're wondering if it was me, it wasn't-”  
Quark looked tired, the dark red rim around his eyes was more pronounced than usual.  
“What-” Odo was so focused on his bump problem he had already forgotten why he was even there.  
“The cargo bay?” Quark looked at him with that same curious expression from the other day.  
“Ah-” Odo nodded “and you expect me to just take your word for it.”  
Quark smiled a tired smile, “if you wouldn't mind.”  
Odo scoffed and turned his head to hide his smile from the bartender.  
“Tell me what you know and I'll see if I believe your word or not,” Odo resisted a smirk.  
Quark pulled the stool he kept behind the bar toward himself and sat down heavily. He hadn't  
actually stopped standing since that morning and everything suddenly ached at full throttle.

It hadn’t been a _packed_ day at the bar but the flow of people had remained uncharacteristically steady since a morning passenger transport had arrived at the station.  
“Look, I honestly don't know anything beyond the official report-” Odo opened his mouth to  
complain that Quark shouldn't have been able to read that yet but Quark held up a hand and  
continued before he could get a word out, “but I think I could point you in the right direction.”  
Quark gestured to a Yridian that was talking animatedly with a bored looking Nausicaan.  
“Those two have been on the station for 3 nights, same booth, 0600 til closing time each night.”  
Odo glanced in their direction, “I wonder if our Nausicaan friend over there knows the  
Nausicaan I had in my holding cell-”  
“Odo, not all Nausicaans know each other-” Quark chided playfully.  
Odo sarcastically grunted at the Ferengi.  
Odo, having been properly distracted from his problems by Quark, had leaned away from the  
counter and Quark caught a glimpse of Odo's little belly bump.  
“You're beer belly is back,” Quark's serious tone betrayed the joking nature of his words  
Odo felt the same surge of panic well up within him as he looked down at his protruding  
stomach and then back into the worried eyes of Quark.  
“I-” Odo tried to speak but he didn't really know what to say.  
Quark leaned in a little closer, “I can call Bashir if you want?”  
Odo looked into his eyes, the two of them in that moment were demasked, two pairs of eyes  
filled with the same type of worry.  
“I-” Odo said again “I don't know what to do-”  
Quark nodded, gave Odo a look that was packed full of emotion- worry, confusion, and apology.  
Quark turned to his computer behind the counter and called for Dr. Bashir.  
Odo was sitting in sick bay less than five minutes later, Julian scanned his abdominal area,  
while Quark stood awkwardly by his side.  
After a few minutes of seemingly infinite silence Bashir spoke up in a tone that contrasted the  
overall mood, “well Odo, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this- but I think the best way to  
describe it would be, that you're.. pregnant.”  
Quark's mouth fell open- if it wasn't totally outside the bounds of ferengi anatomy, Quark's chin  
probably would've hit the floor.  
Odo looked like he had been slapped in the face with an eel. But like, with an eel he loved dearly.

Odo was starry-eyed and at a loss for words.

“Pregnant-” Quark basically shouted at Julian, and gestured at Odo with his thumb, “him?”

The incredulous tone of Quark’s panicking made Julian smile the knowing smile of a doctor who has seen one too many alien’s anatomy to be surprised anymore.

Odo stared at his tummy bump, he placed a hand tentatively on his stomach, “the changeling-”

Quark and Bashir looked at each other then back at Odo.

“he didn't die-” if it had been Odo's instinct to cry he would’ve been sobbing in relief. Odo put his other hand on his stomach and felt so overwhelmed with emotion  he barely managed to keep himself together, -literally- almost reverting to his natural state right there on the examination table.

“I don't really understand-” Quark looked uncomfortable.

“Well, as far as I can figure,” Julian scratched the back of his head “the changeling and Odo came together, I thought the changeling died when it reactivated Odo's changeling abilities but perhaps it's using Odo's morphogenic matrix to clean out the tetryon particles that are affecting it? The best I can do is speculation.”

Quark quirked an eye ridge, “what if it's not the same changeling? What if Odo's like- making a new one-”

Odo and Julian looked at Quark, then at each other, and finally at Odo's belly. Everyone had hundreds of unanswerable questions bouncing around their brains.

“You're sure there's another changeling in there,” Quark couldn't tear his eyes away from Odo's bump.

“Its definitely a distinct morphogenic pattern I'm picking up on my tricorder.” Quark craned his neck to get an upside down view of the tricorder results.

Odo was silent, hands still holding his belly.

“What-” Quark paused for a beat, “what now?”

Julian shrugged “I suppose Odo's free to go-”

“Free to go?” Quark looked slightly panicked “don't you need to , you know, run a few more tests.”

“Like what - he doesn't have organs to monitor Quark,” Julian crossed his arms, “it's probably more akin to linking than an actual pregnancy, anyway.”

Quark looked like he wanted to protest but he couldn't come up with anything to say for once.

It was a tense silence for a second as Quark and Julian stared at each other .

“Fine,” Quark suddenly broke the silence, he turned back to Odo, “come on Odo.”

Odo looked up, his face was soft and smiling. Quark gave him a weird look of disbelief.

Quark grabbed his arm and helped him off the examination table as if he really were heavy with the burden of a baby.

Odo accepted the help in a daze. Julian watched Quark lead Odo out of the infirmary with a smile.

“Well I'll be damned.” Julian shook his head, grinning ear to ear, “Quark does care about something other than Latinum”

 

-

 

“You're sure you're okay,” Quark had insisted on walking Odo back to his quarters, and now he stood near the door, arms crossed, a nervousness in his voice.

“Quark I feel,” Odo was sitting on the floor next to his jungle gym and he looked at Quark with such an unguarded look that it took Quark aback and he uncrossed his arms slowly, “I feel better than I have in my entire life.”

“Odo,” Quark smiled a toothy grin, his eyes gleaming “you're glowing-”

Odo's face fell and he looked at his hands, Quark laughed and turned towards the door, then back to Odo, “not literally.”

Odo  made a face like ‘oh duh’ and smiled again, and Quark's heart fluttered in his chest, “stop smiling at me like that- it's unnerving.”

Odo grunted.   He shook his head along with his words, some of his sarcasm making its way back to the surface but it was betrayed by the unmistakable fondness in his voice, “don't flatter yourself, I'm not smiling at _you_.”

Quark smirked and turned his body halfway to the door, hands in his pockets; he looked back at,Odo, “have a good night Constable.”

Odo nodded to him but Quark was already disappearing out the door and headed down the hall.  

 

\--

 

Odo oozed on the floor, he could sense the changeling that was intermingling with his natural state. The changelings side of the link was fairly quiet, not having enough experiences to relate back to Odo in any meaningful capacity, but Odo could feel the intense contentment and safety that the smaller changeling felt.

It was fairly intoxicating, Odo was remiss to reform into his humanoid shape when the computer chimed his morning alarm. After the computer started a 3rd, and insistent, chime of the hour Odo began to ripple and rise, grumbling irritably at the computer to shut up with his half formed mouth.

Odo looked down at his little bump and smiled, and suddenly he could feel the changeling trying to shift rudimentary semi-solid forms. The link was strong now, but the changeling was so young more complex concepts that Odo attempted to relay were difficult for it to grasp completely. Odo could feel it wriggling in a quasi solid form and he marveled at the odd sensation. Now his distraction these past days made sense, his thoughts were being influenced by the other changeling.

 

 


	2. Conditions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this whole fic is garbage just a heads up  
> again, unbeta'd so the mistakes are undoubtedly rampant

 

Odo was distracted as _shit_ that day; he tried to catch up with some paperwork, but every time he felt the changeling move he couldn't contain an enormous grin of pride.

He wondered how long the changeling would need until it was ready to be a part of the world. All his excitement about the changeling taking on forms- humanoid form, animal forms, plant forms, forms Odo couldn't even conceive of yet- returned back at full power, replacing the morose and depressing attitude that had settled around the changeling in Odos mind.

At 1030 hours Odo was patrolling the Promenade, when yelling and various calmor could be heard coming from a shop further down the walkway.

“Odo to security, I need back up on the promenade-” Odo kicked into Serious Mode and ran towards the noise- three Nausicaans were harassing a shopkeeper about their missing shipment of something or other. Well harassing was putting it lightly- the shopkeeper was being held up against the promenade wall, bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth and his face was puffy and obscured by bruises.

“Release that man!” Odo called out- the two Nausicaans that were standing behind the aggressor turned on Odo and the third holding the shopkeeper guffawed grossly into his prisoner's face.

“Lit-tle hu-mon wants me to release the cheat-” the Nausicaan spat in the shopkeeper’s face.

Odo shot two tentacles at each of the three Nausicaans. Within the span of 45 seconds Odo had rendered the 3 Nausicaan incapacitated on the promenade floor- each pinned down under amber tentacles. Bajoran security members encircled the display a few seconds after, cuffed the howling Nausicaans, and lead them all down to the security office- three Bajoran’s to a Naussicaan.

 

-

Around noon, the wiggling form of Quark appeared outside the glass of his office.

Odo couldn't contain his smile at the bartender as he released the door lock. Quark looked about ready to yell at him when he stopped short upon noticing Odo’s smile, “what”

Odo looked embarrassed, “nothing , what do you want Quark-”

Quark forced a sour look on his face and tried his best to sound angry, “Odo, I saw you running after those _three (3)N_ ausicaans in the promenade- you can't pull that kind of stunt in your condition.”

Odo sat up straight, Quark's words took Odo by surprise, why was Quark so invested in this.

“What condition is that -”

“You're _pregnant_ Odo-” Quark shouted at him and Odo chuckled.

“I'm not _actually_ pregnant, Quark. And the changeling is _fine_. A nausicaan couldn't hurt one if they tried.”

“What if one of them had a weapon-” Quark's tone was serious and he sounded genuinely upset with Odo.

“Quark you know I don't allow weapons on the promenade-”

Quark cut him off, walking towards Odo's desk as he spoke, “You think it's not beyond a band of raiders to smuggle in a disruptor?”

“Quark, I've been investigating the cargo bay incident-” more like struggling to.

The bartender placed his knuckles on Odo's desk and leaned towards him, “You're looking out for two now Odo, you can't be reckless like this!”

Odo suddenly looked intensely amused, and he leaned back in his desk chair looking terribly smug.

“You're actually worried-” Odo sounded more impressed than anything.

Quark stood up straight and pulled his hands off the desk like it was a hot iron that had burned his fists, “don't be ridiculous.”

Quark's face dropped to a mask of apathy, but his eyes belied whatever facade he was putting up. His eyes, _bore_ into Odo.

Odo laughed then, a deep grumble in his makeshift throat. He looked back at Quark, his eyes sparkled, “come here.”

Odo waved him over, but Quark was glued to the spot; he looked a little like a Cardassian vole caught in a live trap.

“Come on,” Odo added an insistent inflection in addition to his gesturing.

Quark took a hesitant step towards him, he rounded the desk like he was going to a holding cell.

Odo grabbed his wrist when he was close enough and pulled him the rest of the way, Quark stumbled forward a little and was then standing between Odo and his desk. Odo pressed Quark's hand to his tummy, and the Ferengi looked like he might implode, a faint blush blooming on his cheeks. The changeling inside of Odo wiggled against Quark's hand and he let out a tiny gasp in amazement.

Odo and Quark looked at each other, both of them smiling like idiots, “that's him?”

Odo nodded.

The door chimed and they both jumped apart, Quark backed away from the desk as Odo released the door lock.

Kira walked in and looked between the two of them with a slight smirk, “Odo I've heard an interesting rumor and I've come to verify these claims with you -”

Odo sat up and leaned forward on his desk, suddenly intrigued to a possible lead on his hunt with the cargo bay.

“You're not actually pregnant right-” Kira said bluntly, she looked at him like she'd heard a terrific joke.

Odo sat back, slightly deflated by the anticlimax, “well, not _actually_ pregnant no but-”

Kira turned away laughing, “I knew it- I'm gonna kill Dax for trying to pull that one over on me-”

“Ah-” Odo stood up and gestured proudly to his belly. Kira turned back to Odo then looked down and her eyes almost bugged out of her head

“Wait-” Kira held up a hand as she stared in disbelief “this is a joke right-”

“Major,” he waved her over like he did Quark “come here”

Kira looked uncertain as she rounded the desk, Odo grabbed her wrist slowly compared to how he had snatched Quark. He brought her hand down to his bump and pressed it against his approximated uniform; the changeling was very still for a moment and Kira looked unconvinced. Right as she was about to pull away the lil’ changeling twisted its form and bumped her hand  and her face lit up with a smile.

“No joke,” Odo said gingerly.

“Odo-” Kira and Odo had an almost identical moment of shared eye contact that he and Quark had, and the Ferengi looked on in jealous contemplation, “Dax said that it was the baby changeling-”

Kira straightened up and Odo sat back down in his chair and fixed her with a knowing smile.

“And, how exactly does Jadzia know so much-” Odo knew, of course- the gossip on this station was untenable- but he liked to hear the string of people it took to reach him.

Kira smiled a knowing smile of her own and shrugged overdramatically “ _no idea_ ”

Odo nodded, “of course not”

Quark felt awkward standing in the corner, and be fiddled with the buttons on his jacket.

“Well,” Kira swung her arms and quickly glanced at Quark then back to Odo “how do you feel?”

“Wonderful,” he leaned into that word like it was a warm blanket.

Kira smiled at him and repeated the word  “wonderful-”

She stepped back and nodded to Odo, “sorry I didn't mean to interrupt- I'll leave you your .. _Business_ -”

“No need to apologize, Major. With how word travels around here I expect the entire station is wondering about this by now.”

Kira looked like she knew _exactly_ how many people were wondering about it and smiled again, “you are not wrong Constable.”

With that she nodded at both them and left.

 

Quark watched her leave. He stared at the door for a long moment even after she had disappeared down the promenade.

“Quark-” The Ferengi looked at Odo with a soft expression “you're right”

“Uh?” quark tilted his head in questioning, he asked skeptically “about what”

“I shouldn't have chased down those Nausicaans-”

“Oh-” Quark looked surprised to have actually been agreed with.

“I have a duty to the changeling- to protect it” Odo looked down at his tummy and rubbed his hands over it. He failed to protect it completely the first time- he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

“Well I'm glad we agree on something-” he rubbed the back of his head, “I'm- I should probably get back to the bar- just promise me you won't go chasing after Nausicaans or anything else with a bad temper.”

Odo chuckled and looked at him with intense fondness, “hm, I will do my best Quark”

Quark nodded and headed for the door.

“Odo,” Quark stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder at him, “eh, nevermind”

Odo watched him leave, wondering what was on the Ferengis mind.

  


\--

 

Odo made it a point to stay in the security office for as much of day as possible- if only to keep Quark from nagging him again.  

 

As soon as his shift was over, though, he handed over the security office to the gamma shift and headed straight to Quark’s.

 

\--

 

Quark's was basically deserted that night and the Ferengi was leaning on the counter looking bored as Morn droned on about sundry unrelated topics.

Odo stood in the doorway, crossed his arms, and watched the scene fondly. Quark's eyes seemed glazed over as he nodded along to Morns diatribe, and he hadn't noticed Odo appear at the entrance. The prattle drained into a steady hum as Odo watched Quark. The rest of the world kind of desaturated and began to melt away around Quark. When had the little Ferengi started to take up so much space in Odo’s metaphorical heart?

 

Odo was busy zoning out when Jadzia passed by him on her way in, “Good evening Constable”

At the sounds of Odo’s honorary title, Quark’s head snapped up, eyes refocused, and he looked in his direction.

He moved away from Morn to take Jadzia's order, but he stared at Odo.

“Bring me a black hole” Jadzia looked between the two of them, then down to Odo's abdomen, and she smirked. Quark turned to make Jadzia’s drink at the replicator, he whipped up a whatever and handed it over with a slight bow to the Trill.

She tipped her glass slightly in salute to the bartender in return and then decided to find a seat on the second level, definitely _not_ so she could spy on Quark and Odo.

Finally with his only customer taken care of, besides Morn and the Yridian/Nausicaan duo who were still parked in the same booth as the night before he turned all his attention to Odo.

He bounded over as Odo took a few steps in.

“Constable, what can I do for you?”

 

“I need to talk to you Quark -” Odo blurted his words out without really thinking-

 

“We are talking,” Quark said with mock petulance, “and whatever it is, I swear it wasn't me,”

 

“No, Quark ,” Odo looked at Morn who was staring at them, he kept staring for a minute as he looked between the two a few times then turned back to face the shelves. Odo then gestured to Quark subtly, to look at the second floor, Quark saw Jadzia quickly look away when he looked up.

Quark seemed skeptical but stepped around the counter to lead the way to the storage room where they could talk without spectators.

  


“Okay Odo what's all this about-” Quark shut the door and turned to look at the changeling.

Odo looked like even he didn't know.

He opened his mouth to speak but he really _wasn't_ sure what he came here to say in the first place.

“Odo?” Quark started to look worried again.

“I really have no idea,” Odo looked first astounded at himself , then he started to laugh.

“Okay, somethings _definitely_ wrong with you,” Quark looked ready to grab Odo's comm badge and call Bashir.

“No, Quark I’m fine,” Odo held up a hand, “I must be just a little disoriented by the link.”

The baby changeling made a kicking motion, and Odo could feel it thinking about Quark. Not thinking about Quark _exactly_ but expressing contentment with this other presence.

Odo smiled down at his tummy, Quark still looked worried.

“So- you don't have anything to actually talk to me about,” Quark sounded a little disappointed, but also relieved.

“Well, I -” Odo suddenly looked worried that Quark was going to leave “I could probably think of something.”

Quark blinked like he wasn't sure what Odo had said, “ _what-_ ”

Odo grunted in frustration.

“Don't make me spell it out for you Quark-” Odo tried his best to sound annoyed “I- the changeling wants to be around you.”

“Shut up-” Quark sounded dumbfounded, Odo looked offended “no no I mean , you- you must be joking.”

Quark laughed for moment before he glanced back and saw Odo was serious, “what do mean he wants to be around _me_ , why _me-_ ”

Odo didn't really have a good answer for him. Not one he was ready to admit to himself at least.

“I don't know Quark, but I feel-” Odo wanted to say he felt content and wonderful and light as a feather around him but he just couldn't bare letting Quark hear him say it, he opted for a less poetic description, “ _good-_ when I'm around you. Or- the changeling does.”

Quark smirked then, a cloying tone seeped into his voice “sure, it's all just the baby changeling-”

Odo nodded along, Quark was giving him a break and he was taking it.

“Okay Odo, I’ll tell you want we can do,” Quark moved to the storage room door and opened it, “I'll tell Bors to take over for the night, and we can sit on the third level and spy on Morn and Jadzia”

Odo chuckled at that and nodded, “sounds- _good_ ”

Quark walked out and over to the counter where the Bolian Quark had hired after Brunt’s tirade stood in his place as Morn had resumed where he had left off, “take over for me, I don't think there's going to be too many customers tonight- close up when ever Morn here thinks it’s in his interest to call it a night.”

He clapped Morn on the back and left them to their merry-go-round of Morn’s recounted stories.

Odo had climbed up to the third level, giving Jadzia a playful glare on his way up the second spiral staircase. Jadzia smirked into her drink as she watched him disappear on to the third floor.

When, Quark followed Odo after a minute, Jadzia couldn't hold back her triumphant grin. Quark smiled back at her and shrugged happily as he climbed up the second stair case after Odo.

 

He slid into one of only two booths on the top floor, across from Odo.

“So,” Quark looked a little uncomfortable as Odo, for lack of a better description, _gazed_ at him, “did you think of anything you wanted to talk about -”

“I thought we were spying-” sarcasm.

“Well, we can do both-” Quark leaned over the railing a little to get a glimpse of Morn. Bors had extricated himself from the neverending story of Morn and was trying to convince Jadzia to order something else so he would have an excuse not to listen to the Lurian.

“What are they saying,” Odo was watching intently but their voices were too low for him to make out individual words.

“so- Bors is _begging_ Dax to place an order so he doesn't have to listen to Morn and she's messing with him,” they watched for another few minutes as Jadzia steadfastly refused, a mischievous gleam in her eye. She was doing him a favor though, because by the time she agreed to order something, close to 5 minutes had elapsed, and that was 5 minutes of respite for the Bolian even if he didn't realize it.

Odo and Quark watched the Bolian go down the stairs back to the counter and they chuckled as Morn tried to start his story again only to have the Bolian walk to the other side of the shelves cutting him off before he could start.

  


-

 

Odo and Quark sat on the third floor for close to 3 hours, a few patrons had come and gone in that time but the half hearted spying had turned to wholehearted chatter. If you had asked either of them what was talked about they probably couldn't tell you, these types of conversations are too nebulous to tie down and recall in hindsight.

Quark yawned then, and it made Odo realize just how close he was to the limits of his regeneration cycle.

“hm- it's late Quark,” Odo stood up from the booth, the baby changeling squirmed when it realized Odo intended on leaving the other presence.

“Here, I'll walk you to your Quarters-” Quark stood up too and tried to help Odo down the stairs.

“Quark I'm  perfectly capable of doing it myself-” he swatted his hands away and walked resolutely down the stairs. Quark grinned at Odo's back, too smitten to be offended.

Quark followed him, “I'm still walking you to your quarters-”

“Quaark-” Odo tried to protest but he couldn't deny the lil’ changeling what it wanted, and ultimately what Odo himself wanted.

 

-

 

Odo punched in his door code and went in, Quark stood awkwardly on the other side of the threshold, wanting to come in but feeling like he should probably leave.

Odo turned to look at him, he wanted to invite Quark in but he felt as awkward as the Ferengi looked.

“Well- uh good night Odo-” Quark made the decision before he started second guessing himself and turned to leave.

“Good night Quark ,” Odo watched the Ferengi leave and felt the baby changelings deflation.

Or maybe it was his own.


	3. Tensions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a scene at the end of this chapter that has some hella cliche dialogue so just prepare yourself for awkward wording and whatever else- have fun with this mess!

The next day was worse than the one before. Odo couldn't focus on anything. Every other thought was about Quark and it was driving him crazy. It didn't help that he felt obligated to delegate the more physical duties off to his bajoran staff in an attempt to keep Quark's request. 

 

He was bored. Despite his distracted state of mind, by 1300 hours he had managed to finish all his paperwork and get ahead for the next week.  

He just wanted to go to Quark's, and it was maddening. 

 

Odo sat in his office chair and pondered this development. Why was he so obsessed with Quark all of a sudden. 

 

Like,  _ sure _ , maybe he had always treated Quark with more attention than was  _ strictly _ warranted, but that was all in the name of  _ justice _ and  _ station security _ … right?

 

Odo found himself thinking about how long he'd known Quark. How much their relationship changed from animosity and loathing to something more like a cat and mouse dance, with both sides equally invested. Both side itching for more. 

Now the itch was intensified by the link’s feedback loop. Odo missed Quark on some level , and the baby changeling was amplifying it back at him. The baby changeling could feel Odo's personal contentment with being around Quark, and wanted more. 

 

Odo felt ridiculous. 

 

He was suddenly struck with the urge to hold Quark. He sat back like he had been hit in the face with a snowball. 

 

He felt like he should be revolted by that thought. 

 

He wasn't.  

 

Odo sat glued to his office chair. There was an enormous part of him that was now screaming to run down to Quark’s  _ right now- _ but the disciplined side of Odo was anchoring him to the spot. He was trying to think of all the things that would make running down to the bar and leaping into Quark's arms a mistake. 

There was.. his dignity, for one thing. His reputation. Quark’s weak arms-

 

At that moment, something Sisko said to Odo when he had first bought the changeling from Quark popped into his mind  _ ‘.. it's always nice to have someone around to help change the diapers.’ _

Well, the changeling wouldn't  _ actually _ need diapers but the meaning was not lost on Odo. 

 

If he was going to share this baby with anyone, why  _ not  _ with Quark.

Kira flashed in his mind, too, how good she is with KiraYoshi, but something in him was inexplicably drawing Odo to Quark. 

 

Odo had watched Quark interact with Nog over the years, and perhaps he was a bit rough with the boy at times, but Odo could see Quark cared about his nephew- he was protective when it mattered the most.

 

Odo started laughing out loud then; when had this idea about Quark becoming the other guardian to the baby changeling become a serious consideration. And further than that, did he actually think Quark would even  _ want  _ that.

 

Odo stopped laughing at that, and the sudden silence of the security office was weighted and.. haunting. 

 

Odo stood up and left the office. He had to get away from there. He wanted to go to Quark's but he refused to. If he was honest with himself, he was scared. Scared of what he would say to Quark- and scared of what Quark would say to him in return. 

Odo forced himself to patrol the station. He avoided the promenade all together and settled for checking the cargo bays for any signs of unusual activity. 

 

\--

 

Odo had checked cargo bays 1 and 2 and was punching in the door code for cargo bay 3; the door opened to reveal Quark carrying a box that was bigger than his torso. 

 

“Odo!” Quark looked genuinely happy to see him and Odo was stunned into silence. 

“I-” he was honestly prepared for anything just then, except running into Quark. 

Quark's face fell, “what? are you ok-”

Odo- taken completely off guard- resorted to old methods of aversion, he forced a scoff, “of course I'm okay.. get out of my way-”

Odo shoved past Quark more roughly than he intended and the Ferengi stood in the doorway of the cargo bay as stunned as Odo had been a second ago. 

Quark was frozen to the spot for long moment before he realized Odo wasn't going to turn back and talk to him. 

Quark scowled and left down the corridor with his box. 

 

-

 

Quark was in a sour mood all the rest of the afternoon. He kept replaying the moment over and over in his head. He should've known the damn changeling was just… messing with him the past few days. Being nice- being  _ happy _ , Quark should've known it wouldn’t last.

 

He was mixing up a  drink, and slopping it everywhere with his aggressive stirring,  when Jadzia sat down at the bar. 

“What's wrong with you-” 

Quark stopped stirring, he just stared into the swirling liquid, “I can't believe I let myself-”

Quark's words dropped off and he just stood there, head downcast. 

“Believe what-” Jadzia looked confused. 

Quark glanced up and seemed to finally notice her, “what?”

“You let yourself believe what?” 

“Hmm oh, nothing important,” Quark stretched his arms above his head with an exaggerated groan. 

Jadzia wasn't convinced, “Really though, what's wrong with you. You've been staring daggers at that drink- did it win a few too many rounds of Dabo?”

Quark made a face at her bad joke, “honestly Jadzia- sometimes a Ferengi just needs to- mix an angry drink.”

“Uh huh-” she picked up the glass, the drink was dripping down the side and she took a sip of the bubblegum pink liquid, “doesn't really taste any better this way Quark.”

“Hm,” he snatched the drink from her and slammed it down on the counter, it shot up with a monolithic splash and landed back on Quark's hand and sleeve. 

Jadzia snorted at him, “nice going Quark”

“Look- if you're just here to annoy me find someone else-” Quark was really agitated now as he sopped up the drink from his coat sleeve and bar counter with a dish rag. 

“Quark calm down,” she could feel several pairs of eyes trained on them “tell me what's bothering you.”

Quark softened, he sighed as he finished wiping up the spill. 

“Look, no offence Jadzia but you have a big mouth- and I don't want this all over the station.”

Jadzia considered his words and shrugged “you probably have a good point -”

 

\--

 

Odo had inspected every cargo bay, every pylon- upper and lower- and every unused corridor on the station; and it was still only 1600. He had several hours left of his shift and was starting to wish he was on vacation somewhere far away from the station. 

With Quark. 

He shook his head and leaned back in his chair. These thoughts about Quark were starting to make him angry. He almost felt angry at the changeling just because it meant he had something to blame. 

The changeling jerked inside of him and he looked down. The anger in him subsided like the tide. He touched his belly tenderly. He tried to send reassuring feelings through the link but the changeling in him was now feeling its first taste of the more bitter emotions in life. 

 

Odo felt like he was drowning in feelings. 

  
  


\--

  
  


_ ‘Have you ever thought about having children?’ _ Odo had asked him the day he had broken into his bar to celebrate the changeling over a month ago, when Odo was still human. 

The memory flashed in Quark's mind while he was bustling about, tending to his customers. He scowled all over again. 

The question had made Quark think one hundred different things at the time. The first one involved him and Odo holding a baby together, and it scared the living hell out him.

 

And more than that, it intrigued him. 

 

Which was what made it so damn scary. 

 

Quark was so deep in his thoughts he nearly ran a tray full of black holes into the Nausicaan who was headed for the booth where the Yridian sat. Quark swallowed the lump in his throat as the Nausicaan gave him a murderous glare and sidestepped the small bartender.  

Quark stood stock still, he could've sworn he saw his life flash before him in the eyes of that Nausicaan. 

  
  


\--

  
  


Odo was walking to his quarters that night after his shift  _ finally  _ ended. Stubbornly, he didn't go to Quark's. 

 

And it had taken every shred of willpower Odo possessed. 

 

\--

 

Odo was oozing around on the carpet with the baby changeling, when his door chimed. 

 

\--

 

Quark stood outside of Odo's quarters, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 

 

He had spent all day mad at Odo.

 

He had spent all day hating himself for giving so much of a shit. 

 

And in the end he still couldn't keep away. He had to confront Odo or he was going to lose his mind.

 

\--

 

Odo called with his newly formed mouth for the person to enter. The door slid open to reveal Quark, who straightened up when he saw Odo looking at him. 

“Odo, I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now- but I just- whatever I did I’m-” Quark forced the words out like they tasted sour,  “ I'm sorry-”

Odo looked at Quark with a perplexed expression, “You haven't done anything Quark-” 

Quark continued like he hadn't heard Odo, “I'm not usually one to _ care _ if someone's mad at me but this time- well it's all I can think about- because this time, honest to profit, I can't think of anything I did!”

Odo couldn't contain his smile at him, “Quark-”

“And another thing! I've been nothing but nice to you since -”

“Quark!” Odo raised his voice to snap the Ferengi out of it “I’m not mad at you”

Quark finally seemed to register Odo's words and his passionate energy deflated slightly, “you're not-”

“Quark I-” Odo almost said something sincere, but he bit it back before it could slip out, “I'm just overwhelmed right now.”

Quark nodded as he looked down at Odo's tummy; it was definitely bigger than a beer belly now. 

“I didn't mean to-” Odo paused “be so rude earlier”

“Right-” Quark thought back at how agitated he had been all day and how now, all of a sudden, it seemed so silly. 

Quark started to laugh, his tension falling away like a cloak from his shoulders. 

Odo gazed down at the Ferengi. 

Quark looked back at Odo and his smile faded, “I'm serious , you need to stop smiling at me like that. Its - unseemly.”

Odo wasn’t even aware he was smiling and he smiled harder, “you like it-”

Odo teased him and Quark blushed faintly. 

“Yeah, well, don't tell anyone,” Quark looked down at his feet to hide his own smile. 

“Hmm, no promises-” 

The changeling kicked Odo and he was filled with the urge to hold Quark again. It was nearly as intoxicating as sharing his natural state with the other changeling. 

An awkward silence stretched out in the room and Quark cleared his throat, “well I , I guess we got that straightened out.”

“Hmm,” Odo wanted so badly to ask Quark to stay here with him, but he just couldn't get the words to his mouth. 

“I guess I'll just.. go, then ..” 

Quark didn't move. 

“Quark-”

“Yes-” he cut off Odo

“I.. I don't know how to ask for what I want.” that was as blunt as Odo could manage. 

“then I'll ask- do you want me to leave?” Quark looked Odo defiantly in the eye. 

Odo shook his head ‘no’ and Quark's heart clenched in his chest.

“Oka, good. That's,” Quark took a shaky breath, “good.”

They stood about a meter apart,  it was agonizing because neither was willing to take the first step forward. 

The baby changeling kicked Odo hard, if Odo wouldn't go on his own, then someone had to make him- the tension was too much for the little changeling to handle. 

“Quark,” Odo finally broke the uncomfortable blanket of silence, “come here.”

His words mirrored the other day in his office when he had pressed Quark's hand to his bump. 

 

Quark swallowed and stepped forward, Odo matched his step, then another. Odo couldn't contain the urge to wrap his arms around Quark, and they embraced tenderly, the baby changeling nestled snuggly in between them. 

Odo was washed in relief. He wasn't sure what Quark was feeling but the two changelings were radiating contentment. The hug lasted an infinite moment; Quark seemed to melt against him like he was the shapeshifter instead of Odo. 

Odo couldn't believe he had been so obstinate towards seeking out Quark now that he was indeed holding the Ferengi in his arms. He felt like the last piece of puzzle had just fallen into place. He felt, like he was literally melting. 

“Odo-” Quark's panicked voice cut through Odo's contemplation. 

He actually was melting a little (a lot) and Quark was trying to push his goo back into place like a failing sculptor. He just let himself sink into the floor, not caring about being seen- he was too far gone at that point to worry much if Quark saw his natural form. 

“Don't leave,” were the only words Odo managed to get out before his mouth sank into the puddle on the floor.

Quark watched the ooze on the floor with curiosity. He could still feel the ghost of Odo’s arms around him.

 

Quark sat on the floor and Odo oozed closer to him. Quark was giddy at how the day had gone from awful to unbelievably, weirdly  _ nice _ . 

 

How wrong he had been all day. 


	4. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not super pleased w this chapter but its here anyway so whatever  
> i just skimmed this to make sure it wasn't a total mess, so all the mistakes are my own

 

Quark woke up on the floor in the dark. He was lying facing the wall and he could hear Odo's goo noises behind him. He couldn't remember falling asleep, but now his back and shoulders were stiff and he sat up with a quiet groan.

Quark noticed Odo's puddle was glowing a pale, pink tinged, amber. It looked like a fancy shmancy pool with lights at the bottom. 

Quark stared at the flickering light, he couldn't tear his eyes away. 

“Odo, now you really _ are _ glowing,” Quark said it softly, just in case regeneration was more like sleeping then Odo cared to admit. 

Odo glowed a little brighter at that before fading slowing to nothing more than a rippling ember. 

Quark watched as the head of Odo began to form from the puddle and rise into a sitting position a few feet in front of Quark, “you can go back to your Quarters if you like- I shouldn't have asked you to stay -”

Quark huffed out a laugh and knocked Odo's leg playfully with his foot, “shut up-”

He couldn't see very well, but he could tell Odo was smiling at him. 

“I do still have a bed, in the back room, if you'd rather not spend all night on the floor,”

Quark blushed, and he was thankful for the lack of light. He wasn't sure if Odo intended to join him or not, and he wasn't sure if he should ask. Suddenly, sleeping on the floor didn't sound so bad. 

“Wait here,” Quark got up and headed for the room “Computer, lights at 10%” The lights came on at a dim glow, just light enough to not trip over Odo's various shapeshifting items.

Quark came back a short moment later with the pillows and blanket from the bed. 

Odo looked at him with a face that inexplicably said ‘I will never understand you and I think I like it’.

 

Quark stripped off his jacket and laid it down like a sheet then he plopped down on the floor again and started taking off his boots. Afterwards, he piled the two pillows under his head and spread the blanket over this legs and waist.

Odo had watched all of this in amusement and now that Quark seemed settled in he couldn’t help but snort out a laugh at him. 

“What-” Quark shrugged “it’s like a .. what does Jadzia call it.. a  _ slumber party _ ?”

“You and Jadzia had a _ slumber party _ ,” Odo sounded incredulous. 

Quark nodded, “several, believe it or not. We mostly just play tongo and-  _ of course, _ swap gossip. Sometimes, we just get drunk and watch holoprograms on a padd.”

Odo chuckled at him, “your girls-night with Dax.”

Quark shrugged again, “call it what you want. She's like my best friend.”

Odo felt a little hurt by that, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. (Because he's an idiot)

Quark looked at Odo, almost like he had read his mind, “Odo-”

“It’s okay, Quark,” Odo was glad Quark had a friend as good as Dax. 

“No, I mean,” Quark couldn't say what he was thinking. All the years he and Odo had spent double talking and playfully insulting each other, it just made it weird to be sincere, “I mean .. I mean- I don't know what I mean -”

Odo looked at his hands and huffed, “I know how you feel..” 

Quark laughed a humorless laugh , “right-”

 

Odo could feel the baby changeling insistently returning to its natural state, and he felt weirdly like he was full of I'danian spiced pudding.

 

Quark yawned and rolled over, “computer , lights at 0%”

Odo took the hint and returned to his natural form but not before he managed a “goodnight, Quark”

 

“Good night, Odo.”

  
  


\--

  
  


The morning rolled around and Quark awoke with his face smushed into the carpet, a dark spot of drool under his cheek, and his nose a few short centimeters from Odo's puddle.

He sat up, disoriented and stiff. One eyelid drooped out of pure exhaustion and a violent yawn ripped its way through him. 

“Computer, time”

“The time is 0500 and 47 minutes-” 

Quark rubbed his eyes and stretched his back.

It was a little earlier than he was used to but he knew couldn't go back to sleep on the floor again, he was too sore to lay there any longer. 

He stood up and stretched again, yawned again, “computer , lights at 40%” 

He walked to Odo's abandoned waste reclamation unit. 

Once that was taken care of, he went to Odo's replicator and ordered a light breakfast. He sat on the blanket, crunching his bugs, and watching Odo's serene ripples in the half-light. 

“Odo I've got to get to the bar soon,” he crunched another bug and took a sip of his water, “you should.. come visit when you get some time today.  I mean, you don't have to but.. you..  _ can _ . No pressure”

Odo's puddle continued to ripple softly. Quark wasn't even sure if Odo was hearing him. 

“Well, anyway ,” he popped the last couple beetles into his mouth in a hurry, then stood up, “I guess- I'll see you later.”

He suddenly felt super awkward sitting around in Odo’s quarters, he dropped the plate in the replicator and started putting on his jacket and boots.  

Odo's form finally started to rise up out of the puddle, Quark watched in fascination at how Odo shimmered and rippled and finally solidified. 

“Morning, Quark,” Odo nodded to him. 

“Good morning, Constable-” Quark looked up at him from the floor with a smirk. He finished tying his second boot and stood up with a groan. 

“Are you alright-” Odo reached for his arm. 

Quark looked at him with a  _ look _ \- like Quark was seeing something completely... bizarre.

“What” Odo's petulant inflection on that  _ what  _ made Quark just ... smile , _ again. _ (There's a lot of smiling in this fic nothing sad happens- the real episode is really sad already fuck the police)

“Nothing-” Quark buttoned his jacket as quickly as he could and then “I have to go (- right now-immediately-)”

And he rushed out of the room, heart all a-flutter.

 

Odo's alarm for the morning hadn't even gone off yet and so, he sank down into his natural state for the remaining time. 

 

\--

 

When Odo got to the office that morning he was greeted with a report from one of the gamma shift Bajorans, Cargo bay 3 had been torn apart again, and they were currently straightening up and doing an inventory. Odo sat at the desk to ponder the two incidents-  they  _ must  _ be related, did they find what they were looking for this time?

He would know more after the inventory was submitted, but he couldn't help thinking he had forgotten about something- an unusual sensation for Odo, considering his memory was on the  _ phenomenal  _ side of the scale, compared to humanoids. 

 

\--

 

Odo kept himself fairly busy that day. He did any little task that needed doing, all the small things he had been putting off because of their mostly inane nature. While he walked around the station on his route, he mulled over his situation with Quark. He didn't like the uncertainty that surrounded their relationship at the moment.

 

Quark had, for the most part been a source of consistency for Odo for as long as he had known him. He was unpredictable, so he could always count on Quark being a wild card- but now there was an extra element of unpredictability with this added variable of the baby changeling, and Odo’s wants lately. 

Odo wanted.. Odo wanted, what?.

 

Quark? 

 

What from Quark?

 

He didn't just want Quark's attention, he wanted Quark to be…  _ his _ . Whatever that meant. He wanted Quark to be around more. 

 

He dared not put it in these terms, but at its most simplified form, he wanted Quark to be a  _ parent  _ with him. 

 

Quark was already invested emotionally in the baby changeling- so why not?

 

Odo imaged himself asking Quark, point blank, “  _ be my baby's daddy _ ” and imaginary Quark passed out in the floor. 

Odo chuckled. 

 

Odo imagined kissing Quark then. 

 

Which was a mistake. 

 

Now  _ that _ was all he could think about. 

 

The baby changeling wiggled around in response to Odo's quick changes in mood. 

 

He had already decided that morning to go see Quark at the bar that night after his shift.  He just had to make it through a few more hours. Which meant he only had a few more hours to figure out what to say. 

 

He didn't want to scare Quark away by jumping into anything, but he also had the oddest premonition that he and Quark should both be taking care of this baby together. A year ago, Odo would have scoffed in your face if you had told him any of this, but today - Odo would have gladly and freely paid any amount of latinum to have Quark be-

 

Wait.

 

That was it. 

 

He could .. open a contract with Quark? 

 

That's how you net a Ferengi. 

 

Quark probably wouldn't be able to resist- but then again, after the incident with Brunt, maybe Quark was skittish of contracts- Maybe Quark wasn’t actually as invested as Odo wanted to believe. Maybe this was a huge mistake and he was ruining whatever he and Quark had formed over the years.

 

Maybe a million different things. 

 

But, he had to try anyway. 

  
  


\--

 

Odo was finishing up in his office for the day- organising a few files for the gamma shift, and mentally hammering out some specifics of his mental contract (and how best to propose said contract)- when the door to his office chimed. 

 

It was Sisko. Odo punched the door button and he stepped in with a big grin. 

 

“Constable!” Sisko’s voice was excited and boomed inside Odo's small office, “I've heard the news! I've come to congratulate you-”

 

Sisko offered his hand across the desk, Odo stood up and grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. Sisko clapped him on the shoulder before releasing his grip. 

 

“Thank you Captain-” Odo nodded humbly. 

 

“ _ And _ to tell you,” Sisko had a mischievous look on his face, “I’m throwing you a baby shower.”

 

Odo blinked, “you what -” 

 

Sisko smiled again, “a _ party _ , constable.”

 

“I really don't-” 

 

“I  _  insist _ ,” Sisko didn't sound like he would accept no for an answer , “just a small party, the senior officers, O'Brien and Keiko, whoever else you want to invite.”

 

Odo was reluctant but he could see this was important to Sisko for whatever reason so he nodded, “very well”

Sisko beamed at him, “Great- I was thinking tomorrow at 1900 hours in the wardroom- Don't worry about anything , Constable. I've made all the arrangements -”

 

With that, Sisko let out a weird giddy “Ha!” then turned to leave. 

“Good day, Constable-” he said over his shoulder, he paused before he was completely out the doorway, “oh- and Odo- I plan on doing my best to keep Starfleet away from the changeling until it's a bit more independent, but be aware,  I have to include this in my reports-”

 

Sisko offered him a reassuring look, and left.


	5. Reservations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odo has trouble confronting his feelings! but what else is new!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, this is just going to get dumber from here on out so abandon ship while you can.  
> i have a love hate relationship with this chapter... its my fav so far but its also possibly my worst one?? idk i'm losing all sense of perspective at this point.. im in too deep y'all! enjoy

 

Odo passed his office over to gamma shift and headed to Quark's.

When he got there, Quark was peddling drinks to the moderately sized crowd. Odo stood against the doorway with his arms crossed.

 

He felt a swell of pride at seeing members of the stations crew in the bar- O'Brien and Bashir were throwing darts, Jadzia and Kira were in the midst of an animated discussion, Worf and Martok toasted bloodwine- this was his home, and his family, and he had all of their support for what was to come.

Quark caught his eye and smiled before he turned to another table. Odo felt like he might melt again- just a simple smile could render Odo speechless. It was ridiculous.

 

Odo noticed the booth where the Yridian and the Nausicaan from the previous evenings were seated yet, again.

Odo _finally_ recalled what Quark said a few nights ago, about how they might know some information on the cargo bay incident(s).

 

He glanced at Quark again, he was still dealing out drinks and food orders so Odo made his way through the milling bar-goers to the booth in the corner. Odo stood at the front of the table and gave them his most stern Man-of-the-Law look . The Yridian and the Nausicaan glanced up at Odo, then to each other - and then back to Odo.

“May I sit down?” Odo pulled a chair from nearby and sat down without waiting for an answer.

The Yridian gave him a bemused glare. The Nausicaan looked ready to tear his arms off.

Odo wasn't fazed, “Have either of you ever been in cargo bay 3-”

The Yridian laughed at that, “what makes you think we’d tell you if we had-”

“Just a simple question,” Odo held up his hand in placating gesture.

The Yridian laughed again , “I've come here on  business operations more times than I can count- I've probably been in _all_ of your cargo bays, _Constable_.”

Odo grunted - “of course, you're what? A trader? Freight manager?”

The Yridian caught the Nausicaans eye, and swallowed a lump in his throat before looking back at Odo.

“This.. _chatter_ is annoying my friend over here,” the Yridian gestured to the Nausicaan, “you don't want to be around him when he's annoyed.”

Odo chuckled,”I think I could handle your friend- now _talk.”_

The Nausicaan stood up abruptly, jolting the table in the process. Odo stood up, too, ready to defend himself and the baby changeling; but before either Odo or the Nausicaan could make a proper move, Quark had hurried over and stepped in front of Odo. He looked like he might throw up, but he stood with his face up to the Nausicaan, chin forward, in what he hoped was an imposing glare.

The Nausicaan laughed a wet, sick sounding, laugh at the sight of the short boi , “A brave Fer-en-gi!”

With that, he grabbed Quark and hoisted him up by his jacket

“Odo to security we have a situation in Quark’s-” Odo hit his comm badge just as the Nausicaan threw the bartender onto the floor. Before the Nausicaan could take another breath, Odo had him plunging face first onto the floor and 6 tentacles pinned him down steadily.

Quark groaned involuntarily from the floor- the entire bar had turned to watch the event unfold,  and Bajoran security were now rushing past the frozen spectators. Julian ran over and kneeled beside the Ferengi, calling for a basic medical team on his comm badge while he assessed Quark’s condition visually.

Odo released his tentacle hold on the Nausicaan as three of the Bajoran deputies lifted him up and clapped him in restraints, he had blood trickling from his nose. Odo turned to where Quark was sprawled out on the floor and kneeled opposite of Julian.

He looked down at his face, and subtly slipped his hand into Quark’s.

“I'm dying -”,Quark groaned to Julian just as the medical team was entering the bar. One of the medics handed Julian a tricorder and he waved it over Quark and, after a moment of bated breath, smiled broadly, “you're not dying, Quark. You're fine, a few bruises probably, but you're fine”

“Tell that to my ass!” Quark yelled and then groaned again, Odo smiled down at the squirming Ferengi.

“Help me get him up,” Julian said to Odo. They each wrapped one of Quark's arms around their neck and lifted him to his feet- he groaned loudly as he was tilted up-right.

“Look Quark, just go home and rest. You'll be right as rain tomorrow,” Julian patted him lightly on the shoulder.

“Easy for you to say,” Quark grumbled and leaned into Odo, “take me home please, Constable.”

Julian looked at Odo with a grin.

Odo grunted at no one in particular and lead Quark out of the bar as the entire establishment watched on in curiosity.

 

-

 

“Couldn't they just beam me to my quarters-” Quark griped as Odo helped him into the turbolift.

“Quark. Doctor Bashir said you were fine-”

“Oh, what does he know-” the turbo lift hummed as it moved to the specified level.

“He's a doctor, Quark-”

“A hu-mon doctor -” he leaned into Odo a little more, “ Ferengi anatomy is more sophisticated than hu-mons.”

Odo just rolled his eyes, and grunted at Quark.

 

The Turbo lift slowed to a stop and the pair of them hobbled down the hallway towards Quark’s quarters. Quark’s arm was still draped dramatically over Odo's neck and the baby changeling squirmed around happily at the shared contact.

Odo's instinct was to tease Quark about his legs being perfectly capable of walking back to his quarters on his own, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying Quark’s body pressing against him.

 

They stood outside the door as Quark fiddled with the door lock, Odo wondered if he would be invited in or not.

He hoped he would be.

When the door slid open Quark put his arm back around Odo’s neck.

 

Well that was that, then.

 

He lead Quark into his quarters and sat him down on his lounge chair. As he was pulling away to stand upright, Quark grabbed him by the approximated uniform sleeve, “don't think you're leaving just yet- I need supervision so I don't die of complications from my /vast/ amount of unforeseen injuries -”

“Quark,” Odo looked down fondly at the Ferengi; his lumps, his ridges on his forehead and nose, and then, he made the mistake of looking down at Quark’s lips. Quark saw Odo's eyes flick down and back up, and he leaned forward towards Odo, and Odo leaned forward towards Quark. And then, they was _fuckin’ kissing._

Odo was pushed into a whirlpool of feelings- the baby changeling was wiggling around in response to the excitement that was coursing through Odo. Quark grabbed the front of Odo's uniform and leaned back in the lounge chair, pulling Odo along with him. Odo followed, leaning a knee on either side of Quark’s legs and bracing his arms on the back of the chair. Their mouths moved together, and Odo's morphogenic matrix buzzed as if he were drunk.

 

An out-of-body visual image of them popped into Odo’s mind, and he jolted back from the kiss like he had been shocked by an exposed wire.

Quark looked confused and lost, like he had fallen out of bed in the middle of the night, “huh?”

Odo stood up suddenly and Quark look up at him with a worried expression.

“I-” Odo stopped. His thoughts were erratic, he couldn't think straight- he glanced at the door- the only escape from confronting his feelings.

“Odo-” Quark sat up, “wait-”

Quark could tell Odo was about to walk the fuck out.

The baby changeling had been whirling happily while he was kissing Quark, and now that the connect had been broken it sat still, stunned, at the sudden loss of sensation.

Odo turned towards the door but Quark grabbed his sleeve again and he paused.

“Wait-” Quark's voice was serious, “don't do this-”

“Quark-” Odo’s sounded more gravely than usual, again he said  “I -”

He didn't really want to walk out on Quark at all, but he was still ... _so_ scared, and kissing Quark made him feel _so much_ at once, it terrified him. Between Quark and the baby changeling, Odo wasn't even sure what he was feeling. His instincts were yelling at him to run, even though his desires were right here in this room.

He wanted to tell Quark all of that, but the words just wouldn't translate from figurative mind to approximated mouth.

 

The baby changeling jerked suddenly, and Odo was pulled back to the moment. He could feel Quark's fingers gripping his sleeve. He turned back to the Ferengi whose face was desperate and, Odo noticed for the first time, _afraid_.

 

Quark was just as scared as he was about all of this.

 

Odo gathered up his courage and sank slowly to his knees in front of Quark; he was just below eye level with him. The Ferengi looked at him with an expression of cautious optimism. Odo opened his mouth to speak, but the words still felt like jellied tube grubs stuck in his throat.

He grabbed Quark's hand and forced words out, “I- I’m afraid -”

Quark had never heard Odo say he was afraid of anything before.

“There's so much I want- and I don't want - to want too much.. too fast” Odo looked into Quark’s eyes and saw his own distorted reflection staring back at him.

Quark leaned forward and put their foreheads together in a chaste, tender touch.

“Odo you’re killing me- just- _ask_ ” Quark sat back up and looked at Odo with serious eyes.

Odo had that vole-in-the-headlights look, and suddenly the contract he had spent all day thinking about had flown out of his head and he stared dumbly at Quark.

 

“I want-” Odo paused, he wanted a hundred things but all of them boiled down to, “you-”

Quark's heart swelled in his chest and he looked away to hide his blush, “well, _i guess_ you can have me- and at a very reasonable discount-”

Odo smiled and leaned forward, he pecked the side of Quark's mouth with a quick kiss.

“I feel so strange, Quark-”  the words were thick with emotion, and Odo struggled with the overwhelming.. _sincerity_ of the moment he seemed to be stuck in.

  


“You know, you don't have to run away from it, Odo-” Quark brought his hands up to Odo’s face and cradled it softly, “you don't have to run away from _me_.”

Odo and Quark’s faces were so close together, it was just a small matter of angling their faces towards one another in order to meet each other's lips.

Quark kept the pace slow. Odo was tentative after his odd shock from their first kiss, but now all the desire from the past few days seemed to flood back into him.

Now that he knew Quark was just as scared, just as invested, as he was, the fear didn't bother him as badly. The changeling was suddenly _thrumming_ with what could only be described as relief.

Odo's insecurities melted away and he grinned into the kiss. He couldn't get over how strange everything was at the moment. Odo was kissing Quark. The Changeling was kissing the Ferengi. The _constable_ was kissing the _bartender_ . And weirder than that, the bartender was kissing the constable back. Odo felt like someone had flipped the electricity on, but now instead of being shocked, he was.. _alight_.

 

Odo _loved_ Quark. This particular thought- more so than any of his other Quark related epiphanies- hit Odo like a warp core breach; sudden, and with no mercy. Odo went very still, frozen by the thought that he could be so turned around this quickly. It _couldn’t_ be love. He and Quark had barely started kissing- he _couldn’t_ love Quark.

Could he..?

Quark stopped in response to Odo's sudden stillness.

“Odo-”

Odo was lost in thought.

He and Quark _had_ known each other for nearly ten years at this point..

It wasn't like he had met him last week.

 _Oh god._ The thought dawned in him; what if he really _did_ love Quark.

Quark looked at Odo like ‘ u ok fam?’

Odo looked at him like he had found the thing he had been searching for forever in the regular chain stores, only to find it in a thrift store for half price; and he kissed Quark like he was a replicated meal after months of starfleet rations.

“Stay with me-” Quark managed between kisses, “please-”

Odo nodded, he couldn't speak; he felt like he was being sucked out an airlock and Quark was oxygen.

 

Quark felt flustered, hot, and he started awkwardly taking off his jacket. Odo pushed the jacket down off his shoulder and helped him free his arms.

Odo's previous reservations had melted away, and, now, he was kissing Quark with added fervor. Quark’s lobes tingled with anticipation and he willed them to simmer down.

Odo broke the kiss, leaning his head against Quark’s again, he grunted, “Quark-”

Quark sucked in a deep breath like he had completely forgotten about his need to breathe, “fuck-”

“hm-” Odo looked at him.

“Will you take me to bed, Constable-”

Odo could only stare at the Ferengi.

Quark kissed him again, tenderly. Like Odo might just break and wither away if he kissed him too hard.

 

\--

 

Odo's arm was draped around Quark's midsection and the baby changeling was lightly sandwiched between them.

Quark had definitely thought about asking for oo-mox while they were out on the lounge chair but as soon as Quark had crawled into the bed, he knew all he wanted then was to be held by Odo.

God, he's so damn gay.

Odo was grateful that Quark was willing to just lay here with him. He nuzzled the back of Quark’s neck with his nose with mimicked a sigh of contentment.

 

Quark rolled over to face Odo. Quark’s pruny, lumpy face smiled sleepily at Odo and he felt so much love for this annoying little bartender that it almost hurt.

He leaned forward and kissed Quark thinking that might make the love feelings less hurty, but it just made them bigger, and hurty-er.

Quark's movements started winding down and Odo pulled back to see a half asleep Ferengi trying to kiss the air. Odo smiled a smile that made his eyes go all squinty, the smile that people smile at stuff they really love.

The baby changeling was radiating contentment again, and Odo felt like he was floating around in zero gravity.

He laid there and watched Quark for a long time. The Ferengi’s breathing evened out and his face became completely relaxed. Odo couldn't get over how much he loved that ugly little face. It wasn't ugly at all, in fact. Quark was.. handsome.

Odo smiled like an idiot.

He hated himself a little for almost running out on Quark earlier, and he was so immeasurably grateful that Quark was braver than him today.

He thought back to the bar, Quark had run over and put himself between Odo and the Nausicaan. Odo was stronger than the Nausicaan could ever hope to be, and the Nausicaan was stronger than Quark could ever hope to be, but Quark was so protective of the baby changeling , of Odo, that he put himself in immediate danger if it meant they would be safe.

Idiot.

Fucking idiot.

Odo was suddenly draped in a chilling sheet of anxiety. What if the Nausicaan had seriously hurt Quark- or worse. Odo looked back at the serene face of the Ferengi, while his own face was painted in worry. Odo couldn't stand the idea that Quark could've been killed today.

The baby changeling kicked, Odo kept swinging between these extreme emotions so quickly it was becoming very tiring on the young nugget. Odo touched his tummy protectively.

At least now he knew for sure Quark was a protective dad. There was definitely less doubt surrounding Odo now. He knew he wanted Quark to be in this with him.

Before, the changeling was more like an adopted child- loved, but there was a disconnect between them. But now, he was a changeling again, he was in constant quasi-link with this baby changeling- he truly had become this changeling’s parent. He could feel the changelings forms and half-thoughts becoming more complex each day. He understood the weird giddy joy being connected to this other entity in a way only a parent can.

Odo could feel he was getting close to his regeneration cycle. He wondered if Quark would mind if he reverted to his natural state here in the bed.

 

Well, he would find out soon enough.

 

Odo made a little retaining wall out of one of Quark’s blankets and he relaxed into a puddle of goo. He could feel the baby changelings excitement about being in their natural state again. Odo was so warm and cozy next to Quark. He hoped Quark didn't mind how different he was from humanoids. He suspected he didn't.

Quark had always been the one to treat Odo like a person. Maybe insensitive, rude, /conniving/  at times , but he never treated Odo like he was some /thing/, some /sample/ to be studied. He was just, Odo. He had asked Odo about the Cardassian neck trick when they first met but , he never pushed the matter after Odo made it clear that he wouldn't do it.

A quality he couldn't say for many other people Odo had known. Dr. Mora included.

 

Dr. Mora.

 

Fuck.

 

He had promised Mora when he saw him last that he would include him in his life. He understood Mora’s reasons for what he did, but Odo was still bitter. Many of the _experiments_  were far harsher than they needed to be.

And, he could never forget the parties.

The endless requests to shift himself into objects for others amusement. Mora was under intense regulation during the occupation, true, but he never tried to stand up for Odo.

 

Despite all of this, Odo still felt obligated to tell Dr. Mora that the baby changeling wasn't dead after all. He wondered if he was still on Bajor, or if he had returned to Earth to resume his work with starfleet. Hopefully the latter. He would be informed on Odo's life, but at arm's length. No doubt Mora would still love to poke and prod at Odo, especially now that he was a changeling again and in this unique condition.

Odo refused to undergo any more tests from that man, and the baby changeling was developing without the need for shocks and centrifuges. Just how it was meant to.


	6. Duties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boring stuff, when i was writing the first couple chapters past-me thought it would be genius idea to try to make this have actual plot like an IDIOT so that's what this garbage chapter is trying to make happen I r e g r e t
> 
> Again all the editing of this happened by my tired brain 5 minutes before i posted this , sorry for any of the mistakes in this. also this is getting harder to keep straight in my head so if any repetition of inner monologue happens just know that im sorry and im trying my best lmAO  
> A L S O  
> huge enormous gigantic thank you to all the people who read and commented on this so far I didn't respond because im so a w k w a r d but i want you all to know i am blown away by all of your words of encouragement and critique and whatever else so T H A N K Y O U and a big shout out to Microwaveslayer without whoms't this fic would not exist

Odo could feel Quark waking up; there was a distinct, lifeless quality to Quark when he was in deep sleep. He was now restless in comparison to how he had been during the night. He rolled over, mumbled unintelligibly, and then snuggled up against Odo’s blanket wall and sighed.

Odo almost instinctively smiled despite his liquid, and consequently mouthless, state.

“The time is 0600 and 30 minutes,” the voice of the computer interrupted the silence rudely.

Quark grumbled for a moment.

“Hm, lights” Quark barely managed to croak out one word but the lights came on at the preset 40% .

Odo, with the sudden realization that he was 15 minutes late to relieve the gamma shift, formed up in a rush; the baby changeling was startled by the sudden shift of emotion and form.

“Hm-” Quark grunted at the movement beside him.

“I have to go, Quark-” Odo reached out to touch his face, but paused before he got there and self consciously closed his hand into a fist to stop himself, “I'm late for work-”

“Hm.” Quark was still half asleep and mumbled along in response.

Odo got out of Quark’s bed slowly, to minimize the bed shaking, and took a last look at the sprawled Ferengi before backing out of the room.

 

**\--**

 

Odo found a Bajoran deputy sitting in his office chair when he arrived, he had relieved the gamma shift in Odo’s absence and was typing away quickly on a padd. Odo thanked the deputy, apologized, and took his place behind the desk.

He looked at the stack of padds on his desk and leaned back in his chair with an air of resignation. He sifted through the security reports and shipping ledgers and passenger manifests; all of it swirled around in his vision, all of it irrelevant compared to when he was near Quark.

Odo rubbed his face in a mock display of humanoid exasperation- he had been sitting in his chair for 0.2 seconds and he was already daydreaming about getting off work and going off to be with Quark.

 

It was going to be a long day.  

 

The inventory from cargo bay 3 the day before revealed the same story as the first ransacking- nothing was missing according to the manifest. Definitely related incidents. Inconclusive as to whether or not they found what they were looking for.  

 

Odo needed to interview the Nausicaan in his holding cell- hopefully he could shed some light on the cargo bay incidents.

 

And he had to call Mora Pol.

 

Odo decided on interviewing  the Nausicaan first.

 

\--

 

The Nausicaan paced around like a Klingon targ in a zoo enclosure. His movements were quick and jerky, and when Odo crossed over the threshold of the room, the Nausicaan growled at him, wet and guttural.

“Change-ling-” he stopped his pacing,  first looking at Odo, then down at the bump made by the baby changeling, he licked his lips, his eyes cold, dark- dead.

Odo felt a surge of anger at the impertinence of this foul humanoid.

 

He had a strong, uncharacteristic urge to kill the Nausicaan right there where he stood.

 

. “I'm in no mood to play games - I'm going to ask you some questions , and you are going to answer them and then, depending on your answers , you _may_ be free to go,” Odo stared hard at the Nausicaan, his usually soft eyes were now fiery in the wake of his protective anger.

Odo pulled up a chair from the table in the middle of the cell detail and sat in front of the security field.

“Where were you the night of the cargo bay incident 5 days ago?”

The Nausicaan was silent as he glared down at the seated Odo.

“Have you been in cargo bay 3 in the past two (2) weeks?”

“Puny coward - face me without a barrier-” the Nausicaan didn't seem to be interested in his questions and resumed his pacing, but his eyes were glued to the constable.

“Answer the question,” Odo may have been angry, but he wasn't taking the bait, he just wanted to get to the bottom of this, “have you _ever_ been in cargo bay 3”

The Nausicaan spat on the energy field and it hissed and crackled as it evaporated instantly.

“Why have you and the Yridian been hanging around Quark’s” Odo’s protectiveness of the baby changeling intermingled with his protectiveness of Quark and it fueled his temper.

“We have a… busi-ness arrange-ment,” the Nausicaan laughed at Odo; torso bending forward at the waist, but his head angled towards the constable.

Odo scoffed at the purposeful ambiguity , “what _kind_ of business-”

“he is a man who can get things others can't-”

“Like _what_ ” Odo leaned forward in the chair.

The Nausicaan laughed again, this time throwing his head back with a choking, phlegmy guffaw.

“I wonder if your partner is as tight lipped,” Odo threatened.

“He is gone by now-” the Nausicaan just laughed again, “you have no lev-er-age change-ling”

“We'll see-” Odo stood up and pushed the chair back under the table and looked back at the Nausicaan, he was staring at Odo’s stomach bump like it was lunch.

Odo felt another intense surge of unadulterated rage. He barely managed to  reign in his urge to cut the security field and assault the Nausicaan.

He walked out of the cell detail, the echoing sickly laugh of the prisoner following him out the door.

 

Odo was roiling in anger. He had learned next to nothing of importance concerning the cargo bay, and the Nausicaan had managed to wriggle his way under Odo's skin. He was no different than other Nausicaans he had interviewed before , not even that different from a slew of other unhelpful criminal types, but the way he had stared at the baby changeling - it irked and enraged Odo.

 

The Nausicaan looked, for lack of a better description, ready to eat Odo’s belly bump. Just, animalistic savage tearing and teeth devouring. And it honestly freaked Odo out beyond anything he had ever encountered. He wasn't afraid of the Nausicaan succeeding my any means; he was disgusted that anyone could look at _his_ baby that way. He was furious anyone would _dare._

The baby changeling wiggled around anxiously. Odos anger was so potent , the baby changeling was confused and afraid.

 

Odo sat down in his chair and tried to calm down.

 

He rubbed his belly soothingly.

 

The changeling was fairly big now, and he was unmistakably round around the middle. He wondered idly when the changeling would be ready to join the world. He wasn't sure how long it would take to completely rid the baby’s morphogenic matrix of the tetryon particles.

 

Odo’s anger slowly melted away and was replaced with his excitement to meet his baby for real. The link was still only good for conveying small, simplistic emotions and concepts, but Odo could feel the changeling becoming more complex, its shifting of hard and soft forms had gotten very diverse in a short few days.

Several times during the day Odo could feel the poke of a corner or two, the changeling having formed a rudimentary geometric shape. A few times he felt like he was stuffed full of tribbles when the changeling decided to try a texture similar to hair.

 

Odo was so proud of this changeling. It was _his_ baby. It didn't matter if it wasn't exactly like humanoid reproduction, he was helping this life form prepare for life- it was analogous at the very least.

Odo was in a completely different state of mind from a few scant moments ago.

His emotions were turbulent and inconsistent, the link generated such a wide variety of thoughts and feelings his moods changed quickly and easily.

That's not to say he wasn't still commanding and decisive as ever, though. His mood swings may have been a drain on his focus, not to mention his distractions concerning Quark, but when it came down to it, Odo was still the Chief of Security.

 

And he was determined to protect the station, and its people, from anything that posed a threat to his home.

 

\--

 

“Hello ?” the profile of Dr. Mora popped onto the viewscreen, he was looking down at a microscope.

“Dr. Mora-” Odo felt awkward. He had never called Mora Pol for any personal reason before, he wasn't sure how to act or what to say.

At the sound of Odo’s voice Dr. Mora’s head snapped up from the instrument, “Odo?”

He moved closer to the screen, and Odo nodded.

“Well- I -” Dr. Mora seemed genuinely surprised- and genuinely pleased- to see Odo calling him so soon after their last encounter, “What do I owe this _honor_ -”

Odo rolled his eyes, the was no doubting where he had acquired his talent for sarcasm, “Dr. Mora- I- _well_ , I have some news -”

Mora's face fell slightly, “what's wrong- what's happened -”

Odo looked up in surprise , “what -? nothing- well.. Nothing _bad-_ Nothing to worry about -”

Dr. Mora looked unconvinced , “well?”

Odo suppressed a goofy ass grin , “I'm . well- just look-”

Odo stood up so Dr. Mora could get a good look at Odo's belly.

Dr. Mora's jaw dropped open.

“Odo, you're” His words dropped off

“Sort of, yes ,” Odo sat bAck down , “it's the baby changeling. The one we thought had.. had died”

Dr. Mora looked absolutely amazed.

“How did this happen?”  Dr. Mora tried to peek at Odo's tummy despite being on the other side of a screen.

“When the changeling was.. _absorbed_ into my morphogenic matrix, it wasn't dead.. Dr. Bashir believes it remained dormant , using my matrix to filter out the tetryon particles, until it was strong enough to form a.. half-link.”

“And you're sure it's the same changeling -”.

“Hm, It remembers me from before. And..” he almost said ‘it remembers Quark’ but he cut himself off. The last person he wanted to tell about him and Quark, was Dr. Mora. He would try to… be a _dad_. And Odo just.. didn't need that right now, “and.. well, it's definitely the same changeling. I just ..know”

Mora offered a smile, one that said ‘look at that fucking mom right there, he’s mom shaped’, “well Odo,  I believe congratulations are in order. I'm so glad to know that … Well, that the changeling is still with us.”

Odo nodded and smiled at Dr. Mora.

“I hope,” Dr. Mora paused “I hope I'm welcome to come meet it when..”

Odo hesitated, he may have offered to include Mora in his life, but he wasn't sure he was ready for anymore scientific testing on the changeling. And he definitely wasn't ready for Grandpa Pol,  “I- I'm not sure when..”

“well I can't get away from starfleet for at least another couple months , I'm sure you'll know more before then. You look fairly well along already,” Dr Mora looked .. proud of Odo.

Odo looked down at his belly, which was getting bigger everyday, and smiled.

“I will contact you if there is any new developments ,” Odo promised and reached up to the controls.

“Wait, Odo,” Dr. Mora reached out towards the screen reflexively and paused for a second before finally letting out, “good luck.”

Odo nodded and punched the end button.

 

Well that was finally off his list.

 

Odo sat back in his chair and sighed out of habit.

 

It was still _only_ 1100 hours.

 

\--


	7. Attentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is a little shorter than usual sorry y'all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know how to write. this is all me fumbling around with a keyboard and some feelings .

Around 1300 hours Quark shimmied up to the door of Odo’s security office.

Odo was working on some reports about the cargo bay incidents when he glanced up at the door chime and noticed Quark.

Odo felt excited to see him, and the baby changeling wiggled around upon recognizing that feeling as the arrival of Quark.

Odo would have blushed if he could at the strange somersault the baby changeling performed in his mock abdomen. The baby definitely knew when Odo was excited to see Quark specifically.

 

Odo hit the button, the door slid open, and Quark came in.

“So what's this I hear about Sisko throwing you a baby shower -” Quark put his hands on his hips in an effort to look mad. Unfortunately for him, it just made him look adorable. “Why was _I_ not invited-”

“Well-”   he had been so distracted by the the Nausicaan, Dr. Mora, and Quark, that Odo had completely forgotten about the baby shower that evening. “I forgot-”

“You.. _forgot_ .” Quark looked like he didn't believe him , “the formidable Constable Odo .. who has the memory of a computer data core or some magical fairytale freak- _forgot_.”

Odo smiled at Quark’s ranting, “will you come to the party with me-”

“no- I'm not going -” Quark crossed his arms “I wasn't invited -”

Odo scoffed at him, “Quark-”

“Don't bother,” Quark turned sideways and stuck his nose in the air, “you just don't want me to go I understand, you don't have to lie to me.”

“Quaark,” Odo leaned forward on his desk, he was still smiling , “I honestly forgot… You're a _magnificent_ distraction-”

Quark froze.

“huh-” He turned his head to look at Odo, he couldn't believe his ears, “I what-”

“ _Please_ go with me to the baby shower,”

Quark turned his body to match the direction of his head, “you really did.. forget-?”

“I've been busy, Quark,” he sat back in his chair, “I didn't even want to go in the first place- it's just Sisko looked so.. excited - I couldn't say no. And then the Nausicaan, and last night -”

Quark rounded the desk, propped a booty cheek on the corner, and smiled his lecherous little Ferengi smile, “we could both go sneak away and play _hooky-_ ”

“It’s my own party, Quark,”

“They might not even notice,” Quark leaned close to Odo’s face,

Odo chuckled and leaned in, too, “maybe,”

They make the smootch. Quark was softer than he looks. This time Odo was actually calm enough to notice , last night he was so caught up in fear and excitement he could barely register anything. Now though, Quark against him was all he could notice. Even the baby changeling seemed far away at the moment.

 

It was him and Quark,

and lips,

and tongue,

and teeth.

Nice.

 

“Hmm,” Quark made a tiny sad moan into Odo’s mouth and reluctantly broke away, “I have to go back to the bar-”

“You really just came to yell at me -” Odo smirked at Quark,

“Well, that's not all-” Quark leaned down again and kissed Odo , just a lil peck.

Odo chuckled again and leaned forward to kiss Quark in the same way, “I'll head over to the bar when my shift ends,”

Quark had to go before he started smootchin’ the Constable again and he backed out of the space between the desk and chair.

"So.. I’ll see you later then-” Quark couldn't tear his eyes away from Odo.

“Count on it-”

With that, Quark nodded and scampered off.

 

-

 

Odo spent the rest of his shift daydreaming about ditching the party and running off with Quark.

 

-

 

Odo was sitting at the bar after his shift ended. It was 1800 and 48 minutes and he was waiting for Quark to finish up his business for the evening.

“..And remember to lock the storage room before you leave,” Quark told Bors for probably the 5th time; the Bolian nodded along to his berating commands like a good employee.

 

Quark leaned on the counter across from Odo and sighed, “you sure you don't want to go back to my place and just make out-”

Odo chuckled, “it's a very tempting offer, Quark.”

They stared at each other and Quark blushed. Everything was so weird. And amazing.

“fine, fine,” Quark stood up with a small groan, his ass still had a nice size bruise on it from the Nausicaan using him for throwing practice “let's go then.”

 

-

 

They stood outside the wardroom and looked at eat other, Quark asked “should we go in separately?”

Odo cocked his head to one side, “what for?”

“Nevermind,” Quark blushed and faced the door , “well.. it's your party, lead the way-”

Odo punched his door code into the wardroom’s button pad and the door slid open.

Everyone in the room turned to look at them; Jadzia smiled at Quark like a terran cat with a mouse under its paw.

As for everyone else, they looked.. a little confused.

Quark, usually one to bask in attention, side stepped behind Odo.

“Constable,” Jadzia broke the weird stunned silence that had befallen the party at the sight of Quark. “Congratulations”

The rest of them joined in with words of congratulations, Quark stood back behind Odo as Sisko grabbed Odo’s hand and shook it. Sisko put his hand on Odo’s shoulder, standing at his right, and Bashir took up Odo’s hand and shook it with a big ol’ grin on his face. Kira came in and hugged Odo, as did Jadzia who just couldn't help herself.

Worf gave a Klingon salute to Odo and bowed, “I pray for victory and honor for your offspring, Constable”

“Odo, we’ll have to schedule a play date sometime-” O’brien lifted his glass in salute, Keiko laughed and smiled warmly at Odo.

He observed in silent amazement all the people who loved him. It wasn't like he  _didn't know_ they loved him before this moment, but it had been more like a feeling and not a fact.

Now, it was a fact.

He loved his space family. And they loved him. And he couldn't even say as much for the Founders.

 

-

 

 


	8. Presents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to do a double update since i wont have a computer for much longer .. i did this editing really fast today so this chapter might be extra sloppy so.. sorry about that my dudes

“Here, Odo,” Sisko presented the Constable with a gift wrapped in bright red paper.

Odo looked at the present with confusion, “for me-?”

Sisko turned slightly and smirked at Dax who looked down to hide a grin.

“Yes, constable-” Sisko pressed it into Odos hands, “for you.”

“But I-” he was about to say he didn't need anything- but he didn't want to be rude. He felt an elbow poke come from his left and he heard Quark whisper, “open it-”

Odo did as he was told, all eyes glued to the gift box as he ripped into the wrapping paper

He pulled out a little blue bag with holes and straps. He looked at it in confusion.

“Its to hold the baby against your chest,” Sisko filled him in, “I realize you can probably just.. shapeshift one, but I figured you might need a model.”

Odo looked at the weird fabric contraption, and smiled, “thank you, Captain.”

“Open mine next-” Jadzia handed him a small gift box with reflective blue paper.

Odo took the gift and glanced at Quark- now he was wishing he had skipped with Quark  to go make out.

He tore the paper off, and opened up the box, there was a rounded plastic pacifier inside. He picked it up and looked at it.

“Its an earth pacifier , I figured we don't know what the baby changeling will need and at the very least,” she shrugged, “it's something to practice shifting with.”

Odo nodded at Dax, “thank you, Lieutenant,”

He felt so awkward, Odo never really received gifts, and when he did they were typically useless to him beyond the capacity to inspire his shapeshifting.

But Jadzia had a good point, he wasn't even sure what the baby changeling would need or want once it was out and moving on its own. Without the aggressive methods of Dr. Mora and the Cardassian scientists, maybe this changeling would develop at a more steady pace and not be forced to grow up in a condensed period solely for the purpose of escape.

“This is from Miles and me-” Keiko reached over several people to hand Odo a medium sized box with a big yellow bow on top.

Odo, again, looked at Quark who gave him an expression of encouragement.. with an underlying something Odo couldn't put his finger on.

Inside this box was a small stuffed terran bunny, soft and white with a tiny pink nose.

Odo looked at the bunny, squeezed the bunny; the texture was wonderful, “thank you-”

His words sounded a bit choked.

“Its perfect -”

“here-” Worf had a long flat package that was wrapped in Brown paper and tied with white string. Odo didn't wait to look at Quark this time and just went for it, tearing into the paper like it had done him a personal slight. He opened the box and pulled out a long, dark brown fur blanket. He stared in awe at the wonderful different shades of brown, and the rippling texture of hair.

“A pelt from a Klingon Targ, may it serve you well.” worf bowed again.

Odo nodded at him in silent thanks.

Quark took the blanket and folded it for Odo. He stacked the stuffed bunny, pacifier, and the sling on the folded blanket.

Kira was next, she handed him an unwrapped black square, “just a little something-”

Odo took the square and activated the button on the side . A small bluish woman played a strangely shaped, stringed instrument. The music was lively and Odo smiled at the incredible little hologram.

Quark watched them as Odo reached over for another hug from Kira. He just couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy whenever he saw Kira and Odo together.

“I guess I'm last then-” Julian handed Odo a small orange bag with string handles.

When Odo opened the bag and shuffled the tissue paper inside, the object underneath made a rattling noise and Odo paused to look at Julian.

He was grinning ear to ear as Odo removed the round plastic rattle from the bag and gave it a tiny shake.

Several people let out a laugh and others patted Odo on the back in another show of congratulations .

Sisko moved to the table and uncovered a few dishes of food and offered plates to a few people as they all began to break off into smaller groups.

“So Odo,” Keiko moved to stand next to him, “do you know when you're due?”

Odo looked down at the baby changeling, “I- I'm not sure-”

“May I-?” Keiko gestured to his baby bump and Odo nodded.

She placed her hand lightly on his belly, he placed his hand over hers, moved it down and to the left a bit. The baby changeling shifted its form right up against Keiko's hand and she laughed in amazement.

“Wow-” she breathed out, “that's incredible Odo-”

He beamed at her and nodded, “yes-”

Jadzia moved to put some music on at a wall panel and some mellow beats began to flow through the room’s speaker system.

Miles made his way over with a plate of food and offered some to Kieko, “So Odo, you excited to meet your kid?”

Odo nodded emphatically , “very excited-”

“You just going at it alone then or-” Keiko jabbed him lightly with her elbow and he cut off.

Odo looked away to hide his smile, “well I -”

“Don't listen to him-” Keiko put a hand on his arm , “being a single parent is perfectly feasible.”

Odo caught sight of Quark then, he was in the corner with Jadzia, trying to hide his blush and laughing at whatever the Trill was saying.

“Of course-” Odo nodded along to Keiko's reassuring words,  but he was almost positive he wouldn't be in this alone. Even if he didn't have Quark. He had all these people to help him. He had a community of people who would love this child as much as they loved him. If not more so.

\--

Julian and Miles were sitting half drunk on the floor arguing about the nuances of the battle of the Alamo.

Kira, and Keiko were standing near the food table and talking about KiraYoshi.

Sisko, Worf, and Dax were discussing war, naturally.

Odo had moved to where Quark had been talking to Jadzia and sat down next to him.

“you ready to sneak away yet?” Quark leaned close to him and asked in a low voice.

“I've been ready since the first gift box-” Odo said dryly against Quark’s ear. Quark shuddered at the proximity to his lobes.

The music changed then, a hoppy instrumental dance number began playing over the speakers and Jadzia offered her hand to Worf who hesitantly took it and followed her to the middle of the wardroom.

She began to dance and he stood awkwardly still as she moved around him. Keiko smiled and offered Kira her hand and they began to dance together in silly, rhythmless movement.

Julian and Miles giggled on the floor as they watched the four of them dance. Well three of them and Worf standing.

Quark stood up, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to make their escape. He grabbed Odo and pulled him towards the door. Jadzia noticed them before they could get there and pulled Quark in to dance with her.

He glared playfully at her but matched her movements.

Odo stood there for a moment watching Quark react to the music, then he, too, was pulled in to the dance with Jadzia.

She held his hands and guided him to sway side to side. She got Odo moving in a steady rhythm and then she pushed Quark lightly into him. Quark stumbled slightly and leaned into Odo. Jadzia had turned back to Worf and was attempting to get him to sway as well.

Odo and Quark shuffled around awkwardly together, both drifting slightly towards the door.

The music began to transition to a slow-dance pace. Quark took his chance and wrapped his arms around Odos round midsection. Odo reciprocated by wrapping his arms around Quark’s shoulders.

Sisko and Kira slow danced together laughing and Miles and Julian swayed next to each other drunkenly on the floor.

Odo absorbed the heat from Quark as he held him close to his chest. The baby changeling hummed, and Quark loosened his grip to stare down at Odo’s belly.

“What is that-” Quark said just loud enough for Odo to hear.

“It’s the changeling,” Odo looked down too “its.. happy.”

Quark leaned his head on Odos chest again and sighed, “I know the feeling”

Odo leaned his head on Quark’s head. Several people were looking at them but he didn't care at the moment. His baby was happy. Quark was happy. Odo was seriously about to melt from how much happy was in and around him at that moment.

\--


	9. Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i hate this fic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took forever my computer is b r o k e so editing is a pain in the ass . anyway this chapter has some /canoodling/ so take that warning as you will. and as always, errors are probably everywhere so have fun with that oops

Quark and Odo stumbled clumsily down the hallway, both pairs of feet fumbled over each other in a mirroring of their lips. As soon as they had found a way to extricate themselves from the party and boarded the turbolift, Odo had seized Quark, his mouth coming to meet the other’s desperately. 

  
  


When the the turbo lift had stopped on Quark’s level, they hadn't even noticed, and continued their passionate make out. 

They were interrupted only  when a few disturbed looking Bajorans, who were headed to the promenade, cleared their throats at them. They both straightened up and tried to look like weren't just plundering each other’s mouths. 

 

As soon as the Turbo lift had disappeared from sight, however, they were back at it.  They struggled to make it down the hallway to Quark’s quarters, every time one of them managed to break away the other would pull them right back. 

When at last they reached Quark’s door, Odo pressed him against the wall and he grunted into the Ferengi’s mouth. The baby changeling didn't really understand what was happening but it was happy that Odo was in a good mood, and swirled around in contentment. 

They stayed pressed against each other, lips moving together lazily, for a long few minutes. Quark paused, “did you hear that-”

Odo opened his eyes- “huh- hear what-”

“Shhh-” Quark cocked his ear to the side and listened for a moment, “I think someone's inside my quarters -”

“Who has access to your door-” Odo listened for sounds of movement through the wall but his fake ass ears couldn't hear shit. 

“No one- me, Rom, I guess?” 

Odo pushed off the wall away from Quark, “open the door-”

Quark looked at him and then input his door code. The door slid open and a shuffling could definitely be heard coming from inside. 

Odo pushed past Quark before he could go inside. A dark blob was moving in the room and suddenly it dropped to the floor when Odo entered, “computer, lights-”

Odo shot two tentacles towards the blob and dragged it towards himself, Quark entered the room behind him, “Odo-”

Odo brought the face of the blob to his own and recognized the Yridian, he was dressed in all black and cloaked in a dark hood. 

“You-” Odo’s tentacle grip tightened around the Yridian, “Your associate assured me you were long gone, I’m glad to see he was mistaken-” 

“Wait I can explain-” 

“I'm sure you can-” Odo began dragging the Yridian out the door despite his protesting. 

“Wait- Odo-” Quark followed him, all the passion from a moment ago had withered like a dry plant and Quark felt weirdly deflated. 

“Quark, stay here-” Odo commanded the bartender with a jerk of his head in the direction of Quarks quarters. 

Quark laughed nervously, “that's okay-”

“Quaark, I'm serious - go home-” 

“And be left alone in my quarters with no protection from intruders-” Quark stuck close to Odo, “I don't think so.”

Odo sighed, the Yridian struggled futilely against his tentacle hold.

“Listen,” the Yridian tried to reason with Odo again, “just let me go and I’ll explain-”

Odo snorted and kept leading him down the hall.

“You'll talk first-” Quark pointed an accusational finger at the prisoner, the Yridian gave him an astonished look “then /maybe/ he'll let you go”

Odo grunted in agreement and flashed Quark an appraising smile.

-

 

Quark followed Odo all the way back to the security office, the Yridian made a lot of excuses and attempted to convince Odo of his innocence but offered nothing in the way of pertinent information. He watched from the doorway of the security detail as Odo tossed The Yridian in the cell next to the Nausicaan. 

“Okay- now.. we can talk-” Odo pulled a chair up to the security field like he had that morning with the Nausicaan,  “why did you break into Mr. Quark’s quarters-”

The Yridian glanced pensively at the Nausicaan in the other cell, “look, I uh-”

Odo looked at the Nausicaan who was staring at the Yridian with a threatening expression. All the words from earlier had dissolved in the Yridian and he became reticent in comparison to his eager attitude in the corridor.   

“I have nothing to say-” the Yridian sat down on the cell bench and stared at nothing. 

Odo looked at Quark who was still in the doorway. Normally he would interview the suspect alone so their answers wouldn't be influenced by an audience, but he was off duty  _ technically _ and tonight he wasn’t interested in cases, he just wanted to go back to Quark quarters.

“I see-” Odo stood up and pushed the chair back to its spot, “well maybe spending the night in here with loosen your tongue-”

 

The Nausicaan watched Odo move across the room; black beady eyes were trained on Odo’s midsection.

Odo glared at the Nausicaan and pushed Quark lightly back out into the security office. 

“The prisoners are secure,” Odo reported to the Bajoran deputy that was heading up the gamma shift that night, “I'm going to walk Quark home.”

“Have a good evening, Sir,” the Deputy concealed a grin at the two of them as they walked back down the promenade towards the turbo lift. 

 

-

 

“Quark you ever do business with that Yridian?” Odo asked on the walk back to Quark’s quarters. 

“Hm yeah,” Quark nodded “I've bought all sorts of stuff from that guy. He peddles subpar merchandise, but at subpar prices so I don't complain.”

“The nausicaan described him as ‘someone who could get things others can't’” Odo mused 

“Hm,” Quark looked skeptical , “definitely not my choice of description- all though once-”

Quark paused and laughed, “you know Odo- he's the same Yridian who sold me the baby changeling in the first place.”

“Really-” Odo looked down at the changeling poking out from his tum. He felt .. weirdly grateful for the Yridian in that moment. And he felt especially grateful to Quark. 

Quark didn't have to buy the changeling. He couldn't have even been sure Odo would buy it from him in return and yet, he had bought it anyway. Quark -kind of sort of not really- by way of circumstance , was the baby changelings other parent whether he knew it or not. 

 

Odo marvelled at how fate had intertwined the three of them together. 

 

-

 

Quark pulled Odo into his quarters by the front of his uniform and leaned up to kiss Odo. This kiss was soft and.. god damn.. It was loving. Both of them just thankful to finally be alone together.

“Will you stay - so I'm not burgled in the night?” Quark smirked at Odo, fingers still holding onto Odo’s uniform. 

Odo looked thoughtful for a moment, like he had to make up his mind whether to stay or not. Quark suddenly looked a little worried- Odo smiled at him, “yes I /suppose/ I’ll stay.”

Quark smiled again and laughed, “you had me going there for a second-”

Odo kissed him again. 

As they kissed,  the passion from earlier started to rekindle, like breath on fading embers, their movements becoming more desperate as they tried to get more of each other. 

Odo boldly explored Quark’s mouth with his approximated tongue, the Ferengi pressed his chest against Odo and hummed softly. 

Quark placed his hands on either side of Odos tummy and he could feel bumps and ridges of the baby changeling moving underneath Odo’s external membrane. He laughed into the kiss and Odo pulled back slightly, “what-”

Quarks eyes opened, he looked at Odos face with an expression that could only be described as… fucking gay ass balls to the wall in love. 

Quark smirked and said nothing; he kissed Odo again, biting his lip lightly. Odo made a grunting noise at the Ferengi and reciprocated the bite. Quark moaned as Odos approximated teeth nipped at his mouth. 

Quark may have fallen asleep yesterday before he could coax a little oo-mox out of Odo, but tonight he hadn't been thrown on the floor by a Nausicaan, and he felt the full heat of their shared contact. Quark started slipping off his jacket, and Odos hands moved to hold Quarks jaw. Quark tossed the jacket aside and resumed his grip on Odo’s uniform front, tugging him towards the bedroom. 

He was determined this evening.

He was also worried that Odo might not be  _ completely  _ into him, to which he needed to be sure of that answer. 

Odo followed him to the bedroom, lips still joined as Quark took careful backward steps. He felt the bed meet his legs and sat down bringing Odo with him. He continued their trajectory and pressed Quark flat against the mattress. He broke the kiss to bite Quark’s neck. 

Quark sucked in a breath and made little “hmm” noise in the back of his throat, his pelvis rocked against Odo. 

 

Odo knew what was about to happen. He wasn't sure  _ exactly _ what to expect, but he was no fool. 

Had it only been a mere few weeks ago that Odo had been completely absorbed by Arissa. He could compare now how it felt to hold Arissa and how it felt to hold Quark. Very different experiences, he noted to himself.

 

Odo, out of some parental instinct to shield one's offspring, weakened the link to a faint whisper. The baby changeling would learn eventually but Odo felt weird about sharing this completely with the baby changeling. 

Quarks hands roamed on Odo’s torso, he snaked his fingers under the shifted shirt and found smooth,  cool, approximated skin beneath. 

Odo bit and kissed a trail up Quarks neck until he was at his lobes. 

“ may i?” he asked softly in Quark’s ear

“Yes- for profits sake-”

 Quark moaned again when Odo ran his tongue along a valley of his ear, “mh- Odo-”

Quark rocked his hips again involuntarily. 

Odo buzzed with an odd arousal, feeding off each moan from Quark like sunlight in winter. 

Odos left hand moved up to stroke Quarks other ear and Quark squirmed underneath him.

Between the licking and nibbling on one ear, and the light caresses on the other, Quark was reduced to a shivering, shuddering lump beneath Odo. 

Odo liked having Quark like this- he could barely get a word out, he wasn't in any danger- an ideal state for the Ferengi.  

Odo could feel the electricity between them, the build up of energy in Quark at each languid stroke of Odos fingers. 

Less than a minute later and Quark was moaning loudly in his ecstasy, Odo chuckled in his ear.

 

“Odo-” Quark was trying to catch his breath, his chest heaving. Odo settled next to Quark in the sheets and snuggled up to him. 

 

Quark turned his head to look at Odo, a tiny tear ran down his face out the corner of his eye. 

“Huh-” Odo didn't expect crying and he straightened up a little “Quark- are you alright-”

Quark laughed and wiped his face, “never been better.”

Odo nuzzled Quark's cheek with his nose, “was it… Okay?”

Quark laughed again, “god Odo-”

“What-”

“Yeah-” he kissed the Constable, “it was okay-”


	10. Suspicions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> quick boi edits in 10 minutes or less, or ur money back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short-ish chapter but one of my favorites because they r prime when they fight

 

When his alarm sounded in the morning, Quark rolled over and groaned. Odo shifted out of his puddle form and silenced the alarm. Odo had thought ahead, setting his own alarm with the computer in Quark’s quarters so he wasn't late to work again.

“Shh,” Odo pressed his lips to Quarks forehead, “it's just my alarm, go back to sleep-”

“Hmmfm” Quark sounded like he tried to say something to him, but it was lost in the sheets.

Odo smiled down at Quark.

 

-

 

Odo walked out of the bedroom and noticed for the first time what the Yridian had been fiddling with night the night before. He had been so distracted by Quark that he had not remembered to run a sweep of Quark’s quarters when they returned.  

A metal shipping box was laying on its side behind the lounge chair, he kneeled beside it and inspected it closely. A small compartment on the side of the box was popped out slightly and he touched the panel carefully.

He pulled on the compartment door and a tray slid out of the box. Odo stared at the tray in confusion.

 

3 vials of white powder were laying in the tray. Odo picked one up and inspected it closely, it looked very much like ketracel-white. 

Why did Quark have ketracel-white, and why did the Yridian break in to get it? Was Quark smuggling for the Yridian-

A cold chill worked its way into Odo; for the first time he could remember, he never even considered the possibility that Quark was involved in this whole thing.

 

He remembered seeing Quark in cargo bay 3 the day of the second ransacking. He was carrying this type of box if Odo remembered correctly.

 

Odo. like a switch had been flipped, was suddenly fuming with hot anger- betrayal and disbelief intermingling in him- he grabbed the vials and marched back into Quark’s bedroom.

 

He was so mad- he felt almost nauseous despite his lack of a digestive system- he was terrified that Quark had just been using Odos “condition” to further his profits and it infuriated him that he had believed him for this long.

“QuAARK-” Odo’s gruff voice cut through the sleeping silence like a bat’leth through unarmored flesh.

Quark sat up with a sudden jerk, his eyelids drooping in their struggle to defy gravity and exhaustion, “huh-?”

Odo's previous tenderness had flown out the airlock and he was rough with Quark as he grabbed him by the front of his nightshirt.

“What is the meaning of this-” Odo yelled at the half asleep Ferengi.

“Not so loud-” Quark squinted in pain and covered his ears, “what are you yelling about-”

Quark stared in confusion at the vials that Odo waved in front of his face.

“What is that-”

“Like you don't know-” Odo huffed angrily at him, “why is it in your quarters-”

“What-?” Quark was getting mad now, “are you accusing me of something -”

“The evidence is accusing you- why do you have this-” he brought him and Quark almost nose to nose but there was not a speck of intimacy in the gesture; it was downright... threatening. “Tell me it's not what I think it is-”

“I don't _know_ what you think it is-” Quark was yelling now too, “I don't even know what _I_ think it is-”

Odo growled in frustration and dragged Quark out of the bedroom, essentially throwing him down next to the box the Yridian had left open.

“Ow- what the hell Odo!” Quark looked up at Odo with an expression filled to the brim with confusion.

“Why is this in your quarters-” Odo yelled again.

“It's a shipping box, Odo! I probably have half a dozen of these here, and another half dozen at the bar!” Quark was feeling as betrayed as Odo..

 

Odo was silent for a moment. He looked down at the kneeling Quark. He could see the glimmer of tears welling up in the rim of Quarks eyes and he felt… _shitty_.

 

“I-” all his anger had gone cold and he felt stiff under Quark’s defiant gaze. Odo now had to consider the possibility that he had just seriously fucked up.

 

It was possible Quark actually knew nothing about the compartment on the box.

 

Odo felt so _fucking_ shitty.

 

“Quark-” he got down on his knees in front of the Ferengi, and his voice was more _room temperature_  “Quark- I'm .. maybe .. I got carried away -”

“You think!?” Quark was still yelling, “GoD Odo ! I guess old habits really do die hard huh! You.. Always just _looking_ for some reason to clap me in irons and throw me around!”

 

Quark stood up and it was him who was now yelling down at Odo.

 

“You- Overbearing! _Immature_ ! Fascist! I'm tired of this- I thought ‘ _yeah maybe Odos had a change of heart, kids will do that for you- just look at Rom_ ’ but I can't believe I let myself think for a moment that you would ever be able to see me as anything but a .. petty _criminal_.. I can't believe-”

Quark turned away from Odo and wiped his wet eyes and then turned back and tried to look composed , his voice not quite qualifying as a yell “I can't believe you actually think I'm _stupid_ enough to try to make _deals_ while I have you in my bed.”

 

Odo gazed at Quark with solemn apology. He wasn't sure how he could rectify this, or if it were possible to be rectified at all.

 

He then looked down at the three vials in his hand. His questions swirled around in his mind.

“Quark- I'm sorry-”

Quark looked down at him with an expression of disbelief, “Odo.. Get out- _go to work_! Take your damn box and your contraband with you .”

 

Odo looked up at Quark with eyes like a terran puppy dog.

 

“Go -” Quark said, his tone serious.

 

Odo stood up with the storage container in one hand and the vials in the other. He wanted to say more to Quark but he didn't know what would help the situation.

He silently walked out of Quarks quarters, chancing a last glance at the Ferengi who's back was to the door.

  


Again, and for totally different reasons, Odo felt ridiculous.

 

\--

 

Odo spent the first few hours of the day in a daze.

 

He moved from one moment to the other stiffly,  as if things were reflected in crystal and splitting apart into separate images.

Everything seemed distant; sounds were like an echo, touch was like he was wearing gloves. His thoughts went around in circles, repeating the same questions and offering the same answers.

Was Quark telling the truth ? Was Quark truly uninvolved?

 

And most importantly, would Quark ever forgive him for his accusations ?

 

The baby changeling sluggishly sat in his gut, responding to his anxiety with a still resignation. Odo’s various emotions over the last several days had habituated the changeling to many unpleasant feelings and sensations, and rather than balk at the discomfort it simply accepted it resolutely.

 

It seemed to be growing up.

 

-

 

Odo noticed himself constantly touching his bump.

During conversations with his deputies, his thoughts drifted away and he unconsciously rubbed his belly.

He struggled to hold his focus on a stimulus for longer than a few minutes before he dissociated into his self reflective state.

 

The past few days he had spent with Quark seemed like a bubble that had just burst.


	11. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter it's a personal favorite . some violence in this chapter but nothing too wild. it's a longer boi than usual

 

Odo was stewing in his thoughts. 

He had been at his desk for close to 2 hours; he unconsciously tapped the corner of a padd against his lips as he sat in melancholy contemplation. 

 

He felt.. angry still. 

 

Not at Quark. 

At himself.

He felt so mad at himself. 

He and Quark had started something nice, and Odo had just fucking wrecked it. 

 

His anger was desperate for a direction to go and it began to overflow towards anything at all. He snapped at his deputies a few times, when Kira had dropped by to give him a report he had spoken rudely, and the Yridian and Nausicaan that were in his holding cell- he felt furious with. 

 

If the Yridian hadn't been in Quarks quarters- if the Yridian would've just gone faster!

 

He wouldn't have yelled at Quark. 

 

He wouldn't have accused him of being involved. 

 

Odo wanted desperately to blame someone other than himself. 

 

He had been re-reading the reports on the cargo bay incidents and trying to connect the dots in his distracted mental state. 

The Yridian was a trader. Quark said it himself that he had done business with him on numerous occasions. 

And why would the Yridian know about the Ketracel-White in the shipping container, unless he put it there, or worked for someone who did. 

 

And if Quark didn't know about it..

 

He had probably signed out the shipping container before the Yridian could collect his smuggled merchandise. 

Probably the reason why nothing was reported missing both times- It was already gone and checked off the shipping manifest. 

 

Odo slapped the padd against his hand several times in sudden excitement. He was finally putting together solutions to his investigation. The familiar thrill that went hand in hand with solving mysteries began to bloom in Odo, his taciturn state blew away like brush in a strong wind. 

 

He got up and entered the security detail.

 

“You-” he pointed  at the Yridian who was lounging on the cell bench, “why are you smuggling Ketracel-White-”

The Yridian sat up almost on cue with the Nausicaan. Both of them looked at Odo, one with panic, the other with a murderous glare. 

“Its his!” the Yridian admitted in a rushed voice, he looked like he hadn't slept  “I was just doing business-”

“Smuggling is a bad way to do business on my station,” Odo looked at him sternly, “what stopped you from retrieving the contraband-”

“I didn't know which container was which- they got mixed up in shipping-” the Yridian looked nervously at the Nausicaan, who was growling low in his throat. 

 

Odo input a code on the cell of the Yridian and the security field disappeared, he grabbed the Yridian and pushed him into the small adjunct interrogation room. 

He sat across from the Yridian at a grey metallic table. 

“Go on-” Odo prompted

“My  _ business associate  _ out there is going to kill me- he is on the White and he hasn't had a dose since ..2 days ago - if he doesn't get his next dose soon.. He will kill everyone he can get his hands on-”

Odo sat back in his chair, that admission had been unexpected.

“Well.. We will deal with that accordingly- what took you so long to find the right container-”

“as I said, the containers were mixed up, both times the wrong containers were stacked where the white should've been.. we had two different shipments of more than 300 shipping containers- only one box per shipment had white in them. It takes a while to figure out who bought what. The containers don't advertise that they have a secret compartment in them, and unless you know for sure which container it is.. Well.. then you will have a very angry, drugged-up Nausicaan tearing a cargo hold apart.”

“Why is the Nausicaan on Ketracel White in the first place-” 

The Yridian shrugged , “I didn't ask- I just do my job -”

Odo scoffed, “good business model-”

“It doesn't matter why,” the Yridian leaned forward towards Odo, “what matters is that he's dangerous. And he has very dangerous friends-”

“How did you find out Quark had the white-” Odo wasn't listening to the warnings about the Nausicaan, he was more focused on getting answers.

“He was on my shipping list- he's always on my shipping list- I checked the boxes in his storage room but they weren't from recent shipments,” the Yridian seemed to think he had said too much and shut his mouth.

“exactly how many places have you broken into-” Odo crossed his arms. 

The Yridian looked sheepish and stayed silent. 

Odo grunted, and said in a voice dripping in sarcasm “of course, you've probably lost count. I will be adding any reports of unsolved break ins onto your charges - for which there are several.”

“You can't do that-” 

“Oh- yes I can,” 

“Listen-” the Yridian leaned closer, “I was just trying to stay alive- I lost two shipments of ketracel white in four (4) days- if I didn't do everything in my power to find the vials- he would’ve killed me”

“So there's still three vials of ketracel white floating around the station-”

The Yridian shrugged again, “by now, it could be anywhere, I'm the middle man for a lot of interstellar shipping. Hundreds of my containers are long gone by now, I was lucky enough to find the one.”

Odo nodded considering the miniscule possibility of anyone finding that compartment unless they knew about it , “very well,”

Odo stood up and grabbed the Yridian again, leading him back out to the cell detail and closing him in behind the security field. 

He moved towards the door that lead out to his office. 

“I'm charging you both with accounts of willful obstruction to station operations, involvement in smuggling, and you will be charged with separate accounts of assaulting Mr. Quark, attacks made on either his person or his property.

 

“Give me the White change-ling” the Nausicaan didn't seem very interested in the charges and he moved up to his security field.

Odo scoffed, “You will both be transferred to a Bajoran court on the planet's surface in two days time- there, you will be someone else's problem.”

“give it to me,” the Nausicaans voice  thundered inside the security detail. 

Odo walked out of the room, the door sliding shut on a roar of anger from the Nausicaan.

 

-

Odo had finally solved this annoyance that had been nagging in the back of his mind since the first ransack took place. Normally, Odo would be in a fairly good mood at having uncovered more truth than mystery, but he didn't even really consciously register that he had solved a case, his mind being so preoccupied with thinking about Quark. 

He was halfway to the Bar before he even realized he was walking. 

He stopped suddenly and a couple behind him ran into him, creating an awkward round of apologies. 

He stood,in the middle of the promenade as people filed past and around him. He wasn't sure if going to Quark was the right thing to do or not, all he knew was that was what he wanted most in that moment. 

His feet started walking without much input from him and he found himself standing in the doorway of the Bar. 

 

The lunch crowd chittered and chattered, conversations overlapping with laughter. He scanned the bar for Quark but he didn't see any sign of the Ferengi. Just a single Dabo girl tending to an early morning gambler and Bors the Bolian, who looked tired and overworked, with an armful of food orders. 

 

Odo came in and sat at the bar next to Morn who looked at him disapprovingly  and got up to sit somewhere else. 

He watched Morn walk away to a corner booth and sit heavily onto the  padded bench. Odo looked around the room again, still no Quark. 

He sat at the bar for close to 20 minutes before he decided to go back to his office and sulk. 

 

\--

 

That evening, after the longest shift of his life, Odo walked back to his quarters alone.

He had wanted to go to the bar to look for Quark again but.. he just didn't. 

The door slid open and he noticed the baby shower gifts from the night before, Kira had dropped them off for him so he could leave with Quark. 

 

He stared at them in anguish.  

 

The baby changeling had barely moved or squirmed or poked or hummed all day, even now that they were in a puddle on the floor the changeling seemed sad and distant. 

It hurt Odo in all sorts of ways to know he was the  reason for the changelings mood. What if he had permanently ruined whatever Quark and Odo were. What if the changeling stayed sad over Quark. 

 

Odo felt so.. stupid. He had been planning on asking Quark to be in this with him, and now..

 

He couldn't blame Quark for being fed up with him. He had been.. overbearing, and immature, as Quark had put it. 

Odo couldn't get his mind to shut off. Around and around his thoughts chased each other, like Targs fighting for control of territory. 

 

Odo was lost in this swirling whirlpool of thoughts very late into the night. 

 

The changeling seemed to shrink away from him the more his anxiety level increased. 

His thoughts then turned to a frantic, panicked nature as he began to worry about driving the changeling away with this drama; mind buzzing like a mental hornets nest. 

Odo was at a level of mental exhaustion that he was seriously contemplating going down one floor to Quark's quarters and tossing himself at the Ferengi’s feet in a desperate attempt to convince Quark that he was truly sorry. 

He imagined Quark’s reaction to having him down on the ground like a submissive pet.

In lieu of a scoff, his puddle rippled in indignation. 

 

Just as his mind had almost convinced himself to get up and down to Quark’s, the comm system in his quarters came alive with a Deputy’s anxious voice, “security to Constable Odo-”

Odo began to form up into his humanoid shape,  “Odo here-”

“Sir, Nausicaan Raiders in the Promenade-” that was all the Deputy managed before his comm line cut out. 

Odo rushed out of his quarters and down the hall to the turbo lift.

 

-

 

It was about 0100 hours when Odo reached the promenade, and despite the late hour, there was a sizeable amount of people. Most of them were running, panicked, out of Quark’s- his business being the latest thing open. 

 

Three deputies were struggling to hold down a single Nausicaan, another was having a phaser fight with a Nausicaan who had commandeered the second level, Bashir was treating one of Odo’s Deputies for phaser wounds behind a column structure. Civilian screams could be heard intermittently as they fled the violence, and all manner of clatter and clamour could be heard as people scrambled for cover or a weapon. . 

Odo moved towards the security office; when the door wouldn't respond to his code, he forced the door open with brute changeling strength. 

Odo saw his deputy face down at the desk. Odo saw the blood trickling from the mans face onto the sheer, reflective surface of his desk.

He hit his comm badge, “This is a Security Chief Odo, im issuing a station wide state of emergency- all medical and security personnel report to the promenade immediately.”

His evidence locker had been broken open and the shipping container laid rejected on the floor nearby. He opened the  door of the security detail in time for him to catch the last glimpse of three Nausicaans injecting themselves with a hypospray of, presumably, ketracel white. 

 

The Naussican in the cell had been freed and the Yridian who had been in the cell beside him was lying dead on the floor, a smoking hole in his chest. 

The three of them seemed to be shuddering in ecstasy for a moment before one of them, the freed one, snapped his head toward Odo, his eyes glassy. 

“Good tim-ing change-ling-” the Nausicaan lunged at Odo before he could even register his words. 

The Nausicaan laid hands on Odo, a look of supreme satisfaction, and supreme hunger, glittered in those black dead eyes.

His satisfaction didn't last long however, Odo had liquefied his form where the Nausicaans hands gripped him tightly; the hands slipped into Odo and he resolidified his form around the Nausicaan. He tried in vein to jerk his hands back, and growled aggressively in Odos face. 

 

The two other Nausicaans moved on Odo, one repeated the mistake of his predecessor, thereby resulting in another pair of hands being trapped inside of Odos approximated body; the other, boldly daring to learn from his counterparts actions, aimed a phaser at Odo. 

Odo angled one of the trapped Nausicaans to be in between himself and the phaser trajectory just as the weapon shot a powerful blast in his direction. The Nausicaan barely managed a cry of pain before he dematerialized into a pile of ash.  The setting on the phaser must have been at maximum. 

Odo felt pure, unaltered terror concerning the safety of the baby changeling.  

 

Just then, a familiar, annoying, voice rang out from the threshold of the security detail, “hey ugly!”

The two Nausicaans and Odo whipped their heads around to see Quark standing there holding a phaser of his own. 

Before the Nausicaan could even take aim at Quark, the Ferengi shot him in the stomach and he fell to his knees with a phlegmy choking howl. Odo- still with the one, now shocked, Nausicaan’s hands stuck in his torso- looked at Quark with amazement. 

“Quark-” Odo could barely get the word out 

“I thought I told you to stay away from Nausicaans-” Quark clicked his tongue at Odo in a playful display, but his eyes were filled with worry. 

 

A few moments later, four (4) Bajoran deputies were entering the security detail. They put the remaining Nausicaan in cuffs and tossed him in a cell. From there, it was a dizzy whirl of medics and clean-up, questions and reports. 

  
  


He watched Quark as Sisko  _ unofficially  _ questioned him, Kira standing next to Odo. 

“He saved my baby’s life, Nerys ,” Odo sounded far away as he made this admission to her quietly. 

“He did good today -” Kira begrudgingly complimented the slimy toad boi. 

“I accused him of being involved-” Odo needed to tell someone , he needed someone to tell him if he and Quark were going to be okay. 

“It took you longer than usual,” Kira laughed.

Odo smiled at her, that was reassuring to him for whatever reason. He had accused Quark countlessly of things he hadn't- and had- actually done and it never really changed anything between them. 

 

Odo felt a little lighter now. 

 

He could see clearly the shape of his and Quark’s relationship. It was rife with argument, conflict, and tension; that's what made him so unequivocally drawn to Quark. He unconsciously, instinctually, sought his opposite; his role was only half of a dynamic  _ rooted  _ in duality.

Two sides of one coin. 


	12. Worries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Idk what this is, but it's necessary for the rest of the garbage that happens afterwards

After the bustle had calmed down, after the apprehended Nausicaans were safely tucked away in the cell detail- with extra security having been assigned- after all the questions and paperwork  had been fulfilled, and when all the rest of the people gone, Odo and Quark sat alone in Odo’s office. It was 0225 hours.

The baby changeling was turning around like a stirred pot of soup in response to Quark’s proximity.

“How did you get a phaser, Quark-” Odo pretended to be typing on a padd. 

“A little’ thank you ‘ wouldn't be amiss you know,” Quark still looked mad at him. 

“Why did you show up here when you did-” Odo continued like he hadn't heard Quark, his tone neutral. 

“While I was trying to get everyone out so I could close down my bar, I saw you force the doors to the security office and.. Well, I just knew you were going to be in trouble,” Quark folded his arms, he sounded like Odo had  _ made _ him come to his office and save him from murderers. 

“why bother-” Odo forced his eyes to stay on the padd in his hand , “why put yourself at risk for me-”

Quark stared at him,  “seriously Odo-”

Odo couldn't stop himself then from looking up, Quarks expression was one of disbelief- his head tilted slightly, brow furrowed, one eye squinting a lil.

His whole expression said, quite frankly, ’ _ because I care about you, Idiot’ _ and Odo smiled at Quark,  “thank you,”

The Ferengi’s face softened and he relaxed his tensed frame. . 

“Quark,” Odo sighed and leaned forward on his desk, “you know your reputation precedes you- but that's not- that's not an excuse for treating you so rudely. I'm sorry.”

He wasn't used to saying ‘thank you’ or ‘I'm sorry’ to Quark, and  he tried his hardest to illustrate his sincerity in his inflection of the words . 

“You don't still think it was me-?” Quark's voice was small and it broke Odo's metaphorical heart. 

“No,” Odo shook his head , his voice sounded a little choked up. 

Quark extended his arms, slapped his hands on his knees, and squeezed awkwardly, looking to his left and releasing a breath he had been holding, “okay.. Good-”

“Quark-” Odo looked at his own folded hands on the desk.

“What-” 

“What are we doing-” Odo continued to stare blankly at his hands

“What do you mean-” Quark glanced around the office like he was missing something crucial. 

“What are  _ we _ doing,” Odo gestured between them, “Us”

“like.. right now or-  _ forever  _ ?” 

 

That ‘forever’ seemed to echo inside the walls of the security office like some kind of unspoken vow.

 

“Both,” Odo spoke before he had even registered the words completely.

“Well- right now, I'm going to bed-” Quark stood up but rather than move toward the door he moved toward Odo, “and you're, I  _ hope _ , coming with me-”

He leaned down and kissed Odo. He pulled away just enough to speak, “And, as for forever, ask me in the morning-” 

 

\--

  
  


Odo lay in bed in his humanoid form watching Quark. It was still a little while before his shift started and he took the opportunity to study Quark’s sleeping face. 

Quark lay curled up on his side one hand under his cheek, a tiny dribble of drool was glistening on his knuckles and Odo smiled at him. 

 

Odo rubbed his tummy bump as the baby changeling turned around and around happily. The baby was so much more lively when the three of them were together. It terrified Odo how attached the baby changeling had become to Quark. 

 

What if this didn't work. 

 

What if he hurt Quark and the baby changeling. 

 

Odo didn't know if he could handle losing the changeling again, especially if he lost it the way Dr. Mora had lost Odo- his own actions having driven him away. 

Quark unconsciously snuggled up close to Odo and he smiled softly at the Ferengi, his belly bump warmly snuggled in between them. 

Odo didn't want this to end. He wanted to stay cuddled up with Quark all day. 

Especially after last night, Odo wanted to hide the baby changeling away and keep it safe by any means necessary. 

 

Odo started thinking about after the changeling is ..  _ born, _ how he will handle his work schedule and keep a close eye on his lil nugget. 

He was going to have to trust his baby to the care of others and he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that. Not that he didn't trust the station crew that he had come to know as family ,  but none of them are changelings.

Until the baby changeling can adequately mimic humanoid behavior, it will be nearly impossible for anyone but Odo to know what it’s needs are.

Odo pondered taking off of work for a while once the baby changeling is born. Give himself time to establish a baseline for baby changeling care. 

  
  


He could feel Quark slowly starting to wake up, and he mumbled into Odo’s shoulder incoherently. 

Odo kissed the top of his head.

Somehow, he and Quark would figure this out. 

If Quark was still here after all this shit with the Nausicaan, with Odo himself , then it was only reasonable to conclude that he was indeed willing stick by Odo.

 

Odo began to ponder the option of Ferengi contracts again.

 

He didn't want to drive Quark away with a proposition that would invariably lead to being anchored down indefinitely. From what he knew about Ferengi contracts, especially marriage contracts, they were typically temporary arrangements for the express purpose of child-rearing that could expire if left unrenewed. He figured that would give Quark a welcome loophole to ease any of his possible lingering doubts about this whole situation. 

 

The Ferengi contract operated on two (2) levels ; on the one hand Odo felt the inherent need to  _ woo  _ Quark with Ferengi cultural considerations, and on the other hand he needed a plausible way out that preserved both their dignities should this blow up in their faces. 

 

\--

 

Odo slipped out of Quark’s quarters before either of the alarms went off, disabling his personal alarm as he headed out the door. He couldn’t lay there any longer waiting for Quark to stir, he wasn’t sure what to say to the Ferengi in light of the new day.

 

As he entered the security office and began reviewing the paperwork from the previous evening, Odo was reminded just how taxing the Nausicaan Raid had been. There was a body count of four (4), and seven (7) wounded recovering in the infirmary. Repair crews were stretched thin from the promenade down to the docking ring. 

 

Odo patrolled the station in solemn reflection. 

 

He had ignored the Yridian’s warnings about the Nausicaan and his “friends”, he was responsible for the entire incident. 

He kept thinking, if he hadn't been so distracted by everything he would have pieced this case together sooner without putting his baby, and the station, at risk. 

 

It dawned on him that he had failed in his one duty. 

 

Odo, on a whim and almost without his conscious decision , was headed towards Ops and, more importantly, Sisko’s office.

 

-

 

“Constable-” Sisko greeted him with a small smile, “what can I do for you-”

 

“I need to be relieved of duty ,” Odo blurted out. Sisko sat forward and laced his fangers together “Why-”

“Im- not fit for work at this time-” Odo unconsciously moved his hands to his tummy and Sisko looked down at the baby changeling. 

“What do you mean-” Sisko looked back up at Odo’s face, “And- for how long-”

“I- I'm not sure..” Odo felt awkward. He hadn't thought this through at all and it only added testament to his reasoning about taking leave. 

“Constable,” Sisko laughed a short nervous laugh and ran a hand over his face, “I appreciate your condition, but right now is a very vulnerable time to be letting my chief of security take a leave of absence- What if you hadn’t been available last night- the Naussicaans would have undoubtedly done twice the damage. ”

“It’s precisely because of that vulnerability that I should be relieved- As unlikely as it stands, If another band of Nausicaans are foolhardy enough to attempt such a mission I will be as available as ever,” Odo made an uncharacteristic, almost pleading, gesture, “but I believe I pose a threat to station security at present due to.. slow mental reasoning and-  _ unmitigated distraction _ .”

 

Sisko sat back in his desk chair and heaved a sigh.

 

If Odo really felt that he was a danger to station security, and Sisko sent him back to work anyway _ \- if Odo’s concerns turned out to be justified _ \- Sisko would have starfleet on him, on them both, in a second.

 

Sisko sat silently for a long minute, mulling over the Chief of Security and his request.

 

“Constable, I implore you to reconsider- but as of now… you are relieved of duty,” Sisko started typing notes down on a padd, “ We will revisit the subject of resuming duty when you see fit.”

 

Odo nodded at him, “thank you, Captain -”


	13. Pangs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i debated for hours whether to rewrite this chapter or just post it and i decided im lazy so im just gonna fuckin post it. if the other chapters didnt make you lock ur phone and toss it away for good, this chapter might be the one that does. anyway thats my obligatory pre chapter warning~

Odo went straight to the bar after he left Sisko’s office. 

 

He felt, oddly  _ giddy  _ as he tucked himself away on the second level with a padd.

 

Quark had just opened a few hours ago and was doing busy work in the storeroom while Bors handled Morn and the few odd customers who came in for breakfast. 

 

Odo had started typing up a Ferengi contract on the padd, however, he got about a paragraph in, only to realize he had no idea what he was doing. 

 

He didn't know anything about the format of this type of contract and he still wasn't even sure if Quark would appreciate the sentiment given his status with the Ferengi Commerce Association. 

 

He slammed the padd down on the table in frustration. 

 

The recurring pang of feeling ridiculous permeated his mood.

 

He was sitting in Quark’s own bar and basically  _ plotting _ how to get Quark to marry him.

 

It felt .. weird. 

 

He felt like a different person than how he had been just two short weeks ago. 

 

It was as if his past self stood before him, studied him, and could barely recognize who this person was , let alone conceive that they were one in the same.  

 

Odo had spent his entire life building walls around himself, and now he was actively trying to  tear them down, stone by stone, and clamber over the remains.

  
  


“Odo!” Quark’s voice behind made him jump like a startled humanoid, “I didn't see you come in-”

Odo thought to himself sarcastically that ‘ _ that was the point’. _

Quark sat opposite of Odo and put his empty tray down on the table.

“What are you up to-” Quark saw Odo trying to slide the padd slyly into his lap and he snatched it up with a smirk.

“Quark, don't-” Odo reached across the table for the padd but Quark jerked his arms to the side and stood up quickly. 

He started walking down the level towards the spiral staircase his eyes on the padd- Odo followed him with an exasperated grunt, “Quaark!”

 

He reached a tentacle towards Quark but the Ferengi turned and shuffled quickly down the spiral staircase. Odo instinctively shifted into a - _ pregnant looking _ \- Tarkalean Hawk and flew off the side of the second level after him. 

Quark was laughing as he ran across the bar towards the storeroom, and every bar patron’s head turned as a the enormous bird followed after the giggling Ferengi. 

 

Odo had almost got a grip on the padd as he swooped down on Quark, but his talons slipped on the smooth, ridgeless surface and Quark managed to slam the storeroom door on him. Odo almost ran smack into the door and he flapped frantically to propel himself away. 

He reformed his humanoid shape and yelled at the closed door, “QUAARK-”

Silence greeted him in return, and he banged his fist on the door and said again, “Quark!”

 

-

 

Quark’s eyes scanned the padd with a broad smile plastered on his face , his grin began to fade as he reached the end of the paragraph on the screen. He finished the last sentence, his mouth agape. 

 

-

Odo was about to slime under the storeroom door when the old fashioned lock clicked, opened slightly, and he heard Quark’s quiet voice, “wait.. Odo -is this a joke-”

Odo felt like he had been thrown into an inferno.

 

Quark’s face appeared at the crack in the door, his eyes serious and, though Odo couldn't name it,  _ hopeful _ . 

Odo brusquely pushed the door open and grabbed the padd from Quark grip, “yes Quark, it's a very elaborate practical joke. There is no baby changeling, I can't stand to be around you, and the last two weeks have been a lie -”

Odo’s voice was dripping with sarcasm but, despite this, Quark almost looked like he believed him.

Odo rolled his eyes.

Quark was about to speak when Odo put his hands on either side of Quark’s face and pulled him in for one  _ spicy smooch. _

 

The Ferengi stretched up on tiptoes to deepen the kiss and Odo grunted against his lips. 

Quark was decidedly  _ not _ deterred from the Constable in light of this new -  _ stolen -  _ information.

 

As they kissed, Bors opened the storeroom door and neither of them even noticed as he grabbed a bottle from the shelf and slipped away, closing the door silently on his way out. 

 

Quark kissed Odo like he was a sunny, cloudless day on Ferenginar-  _ rare _ , warm , and beautiful. 

 

Odo was amazed at how natural it felt to kiss Quark , and how unexplainably intoxicating it was to be kissed back.

 

Quark took advantage of Odo’s distraction and slipped the padd out of his grip. 

Odo opened his eyes and went still. Quark leaned back, looked down, and deleted the words on the padd. 

Odo felt another,  _ intense _ , pang of feeling ridiculous. 

 

He backed up from Quark thinking he had just been irrevocably rejected. 

Quark grabbed him by the front of his uniform without looking up from the padd, “no contracts-”

“Meaning-” Odo felt (and looked) as stiff as a board.

“Meaning..” Quark looked up “Meaning, yes-?”

Odo looked away slowly, then back again, a suspicious expression on his face , “yes ?”

Quark looked ready to spontaneously combust, “yes , yes , yes a hundred times  _ yes _ , you're k i l l i n g me Odo-”

 

“Quark - I thought maybe you didn't want”,Odo raised his eyes to the storeroom ceiling, “to be tied down- to me, to us”

Odo looked down at the baby changeling. 

“Tied down-” Quark pursed lips and nodded absentmindedly  “Odo, I'm as tied down as anyone could ever possibly be. I have no ship, no money, and all my equity is right here in this bar. So, like I said before- you can have me-”

 

“Quark.. why are you doing all of this-” Odo couldn't hold back the question. 

 

Quark pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “because im an idiot !” 

 

Both of them continued to struggle with speaking openly- which was made doubly stupid by the fact that they were both dying to say ‘ _ please just fucking marry me _ ’

 

“Quark-”

The Ferengi appeared to be in a daze for a second, then he looked Odo firmly in the eye and suddenly dropped down on one knee, like a Terran wedding proposal, in an effort to dramatize the situation , “Odo-”

“Quark-” Odo looked down at Quark as if he was just the most bizarre creature he had ever seen “what are you-”

“Marry me-” Quark blurted out- Odo was stunned.

He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he was standing here, in a storeroom, looking at and hearing this ridiculous Ferengi. 

“You know you want to-” Quark added with a smirk. 

“Quark, are you sure -” Odo had to make sure Quark was sure for sure 

“Yes for profits sake- y e s-”

Odo nodded slowly in response to Quark's insistence.

Quark scrambled to his feet , “Odo..you’re serious right- are- we actually-”

“Getting married-” Odo finished for him. 

“Yeah-” Quark almost looked.. thrilled . maybe just a little nauseous. 

“Yeah-” Odo repeated with stars in his bedroom eyes. 

 

It was silent for a long moment. 

 

Both of them thinking about the gravity of what had just transpired. 

 

Quietly, mostly to himself, Quark said, “so much to do-”

 

He looked like he was doing calculations in his head and then he started counting on his fingers. 

Odo watched him for a moment, “Quark- you should know I  _ don't _ want this to be a big wedding-”

Quark sighed a put-upon sigh, “I probably couldn't afford the wedding you deserve anyway -”

Odo scoffed to hide his smile, “ _ indeed _ -”

 

Quark slipped his hand into Odo's and they both looked down at the shared contact. 

 

“Is this.. insane-?” Odo asked finally. 

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Quark shrugged.

 

“..Are we  _ sure  _ about this Quark -” Odo had been married before, but he had no idea what it  _ meant  _ to be married _.  _ He wasn’t sure if he would even be any good at it.

“As a by-product of being an experienced gambler, I am, in fact, never 100% sure about anything-  _ but _ .. as far as risks go, I’m willing to take this one-” ‘ _ with you’  _ remained unspoken on his lips.

 

Odo leaned down and pressed their foreheads together, goose-bumps ran down Quark’s spine and he sighed contently. 

 

-


	14. Congratulations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of this Garbage Pile i started in chapter 13

 

-

It was late in the evening of that same day, Quark and Odo were laying in Quark’s bed together. They had been holed up in his quarters since 1800 hours when Quark finessed his way out of the bar- it was now 2300. Odo lightly traced a pattern with his finger on Quark’s forearm as they lay beside each other, studying each other’s face.  

“Everyone will think its too soon,” Odo mused. 

Quark rolled his eyes, “they'll think what they want no matter what.”

“Do you think it's too soon-” Odo searched Quark’s eyes

“If anything I think it's not soon enough-” Quark touched Odo’s little uniform collar just because. 

“Quark-”

“Seriously-” Quark schooched a little closer, “let’s go get Sisko to marry us right now-”

Odo looked at him, trying to figure out if he was serious, “Quark we can't just-”

“Sure we can,” Quark sat up in excitement, “i'll put on a suit, you can just shift one, we'll go down to Sisko’s and beg him on our hands and knees-”

Quark made a begging gesture in front of Odo on the bed to illustrate, “ ‘please Captain save this poor parent changeling from unwed disgrace-’ ”

Odo scoffed at him and shoved a pillow in his face, “shut up Quark-”

Quark let the pillow fall and stared at Odo with love in his eyes, “okay we  _ probably  _ won't have to beg- maybe bribe -”

“Quark we-”

“Look do you want the whole station to crash our wedding? Because that's what will happen if we have an event Odo- 

Odo rolled his eyes and scoffed, but surprised Quark when he said, “we'll need a witness -”

Quark got a thrill from Odo going along with this.

“Anyone will do- how about Morn?” Quark pondered. 

“Then the whole station will hear about how we  _ eloped- _ ” Odo shook his head, “what about Kira-”

 

Quark pursed his lips, he didn't really want the Major there. Firstly, Kira did  _ not  _ like Quark very much- secondly, Quark had spent the better part of two years feeling jealous of her for having attracted Odo's attention, but not engaging with him at all. 

Quark must have been making a face because Odos brow furrowed, “what-”

“I don't think Kira would want-” Quark fell silent, feeling sheepish. 

“Fine- what about Jadzia-” Odo suggested with another roll of his eyes. 

“remember how you said you didn't want the whole station to know we eloped-” Quark said. 

Odo groaned- “just pick someone - everyone's going to find out eventually-”

“We can just grab someone on the way to Siskos quarters- there's bound to be someone in the hallway who isn't busy-”

“No- that's it- I'm calling Jadzia-” Odo decided resolutely , “she's your best friend she should be there with you-”

Quark looked down at Odo, “I don't think you realize how big of a mouth Dax has-”

Odo looked back at Quark like ‘ _ oh believe me -I do _ ’, “its fine Quark-”

Quark was overcome with the urge to kiss Odo, so he did. Both hands held Odos jaw and their lips joined in silent union. Odo pressed against him and slid a hand around Quark’s waist. 

 

-

 

Fifteen minutes later, Quark and Odo were sneaking quickly down the corridor trying to avoid any people as they were both decked out in finery. Both of them were dressed starkly in black and white. Quark’s jacket was black over a white shirt and pants and Odo’s was the reverse, a white jacket with black shirt and pants. 

Both of them giggled like school children who were skipping class. 

 

When he and Quark were safely unseen in the Turbo lift Odo hit the comm badge on his jacket lapel, “Odo to Sisko-”

“What is it constable-” Sisko sounded worried, assuming the worse given that Odo had been relieved of duty that morning and would only be calling in a severe emergency otherwise. 

“I have a very important favor to ask you-”

 

-

 

Sisko had sounded astounded on the comm system, now that Quark and Odo were standing in front of him, dressed as they were, he looked completely flummoxed. 

“Is this a prank-” Sisko felt compelled to asked; arms crossed, one hand rubbing his chin. 

Quark and Odo looked at each other with raised eyebrows and then shook their heads at the Captain. 

Sisko rubbed his eyes with his hand, “you can't both be serious-”

“Sir- with all due respect - we are completely serious,” Odo looked Sisko firmly in the eye. 

“Constable- may I have a talk with you in the other room-  _ alone _ ”

Quark looked up at Odo with as much innocence as that lumpy face could muster, but Odo nodded at Sisko. He followed the Captain to the other room. 

“Constable- What are you thinking-” he whirled on Odo with hands on hips 

“i thought ..I made that perfectly obvious-”

“I can see  _ what _ you're doing- but not why-” Sisko looked amazed at Odo but not really in a good way, “why Quark- he’s the biggest compromise on this station as far as I'm concerned and I'm afraid of what your emotional involvement with him will mean for station security.”

 

Odo considered this for a moment.

 

He had a fair point, “Quark .. Wouldn't do anything to endanger the changeling, and, by extension, the station- plus- I'm in a position to closely monitor his criminal .. inclinations.”

“Can you honestly say you trust him Odo-”

“well- I don't  _ not _ trust him .. but.. no.. not really” Odo said -honestly-.

“Then what the  _ hell  _ makes you think this is a good idea-” 

“It might be a terrible idea-” Odo admitted “but for an unexplainable reason, I don't think it is. You said yourself that it's good to have someone around to change the diapers-”

“Odo I meant like.. a grandparent- Dr. Mora - someone with experience .. Not  _ Quark _ ”

“Please Captain- I know this looks..  _ ridiculous _ .. and that's putting it lightly, but Quark..” Odo leaned close to Sisko and whispered roughly, “ I rather like Quark like this, as a worried parent, he's much more tolerable than usual-”

"Were you not in my office just this morning, relieving yourself of duty due to 'slow mental reasoning and unmitigated distraction', what makes you think this is an acceptable course of action-"

Odo looked down at his feet, "because, I.."

'Because I love him' remained unsaid in it's fullness, but Sisko understood better than anyone what Odo meant.

Sisko looked hard at Odo for a long moment- eyes searching his soft changeling face for answers- then he laughed one of his weird laughs and walked back out to the main room, shaking his head, with Odo following behind. 

 

Sisko sighed as he looked at Quark then turned his back on them, facing the window, “very well. I suppose we will need a witness -”

As if on cue, the door chimed, and Sisko turned to look at Quark and Odo-

“There she is now,” Quark said smugly, 

“Enter,” Sisko called out to the door, and it slid open to reveal Dax dressed in an elegant, long, olive-colored dress with crimps and folds highlighting the curves of her figure. 

“I hope I haven't missed the good parts-” she said jokingly and walked over to Quark. 

“You look nice,” She fiddled with his bow tie to make it perfect and then brushed his shoulders dramatically.

“You look nice too-” Quark grinned at her conspiratorially. 

“So, we doing this ?” Jadzia asked Sisko who looked almost … manic. 

 

Sisko rubbed his forehead and looked at Odo. “Okay both of you stand over here,” he gestured to the window, “and Dax, just stand next to Quark.”

Quark’s heart had started pounding in his chest, he would have been amazed if you told him no one else could hear it.

As for Odo, he felt like he was watching the scene unfold from the vantage point of the ceiling. 

Quark and himself standing side by side in front of Sisko, the oval Cardassian window to their backs.

It was a strangely peaceful scene, the lighting was dim yet everything had a slight glow.

Odo remembered when he had been married to Lawaxana, similar in that the proposal and the wedding had happened in the same day; but today Odo was far more invested than he had been with Lawaxana. 

 

For one, Odo was now the one more or less  _ pregnant _ . He understood the desperation and the concerns surrounding parenthood from a completely different perspective than before. And two, he and Quark had known each other for far longer than Odo and Lawaxana, which raised the stakes. 

 

Odo was thinking along these lines as Sisko began reciting the starfleet short, short version of the wedding WORDS. 

Quark snuck his hand into Odo’s which pulled the Constable out of his reverie. 

 

He looked down at Quark, who was staring at Sisko like he might combust. He squeezed the Ferengi’s hand lightly and Quark looked up at him. Sisko’s voice was like the buzzing of the station machinery and he faded into the background as white noise. 

Quark’s heart beat faster somehow and he struggled to look calm. 

 

Jadzia watched them staring at each other with a smirk on her face. 

 

As for Sisko, he couldn't really believe he was marrying the Constable to Quark with no warning, at midnight, on a Thursday. His words tumbled out of his mouth on their own accord and he  became merely an observer of this strange moment. 

 

When Sisko had finished he watched in horrified fascination as Odo leaned down and kissed Quark chastly on the lips. 

He looked at Jadzia with raised eyebrows and crazy eyes, and she just grinned at him and shrugged. 

 

That little kiss had had a profound impact on both Quark and Odo. It was electrified by Quark’s erratic heart and racing mind; then amplified by Odo’s ability to link. He was marrying Odo. Odo was marrying him. It didn't seem real until Odo kissed him. 

 

When their lips met the realization hit him like a metric ton of latinum. 

 

Odo felt the shock of Quark’s emotions jolt through him. 

The kiss lasted no more than a second but both of them had been frozen in that second for an infinite amount of moments. 

 

Quark blushed when they seperated and Odo smiled down at him. 

 

Sisko cleared his throat awkwardly and glanced at  Dax, “well congratulations gentlemen- next time I would love a heads up-”

“Don't be silly Benjamin -you loved it -” Jadzia waved a hand, “I for one thought this was a beautiful wedding and I wish you both a lifetime of happiness-”

She reached into a pocket on the side of  her dress, hidden neatly in the folds and creases, and threw some replicated rice over their heads, to the great chagrin of Sisko. 

 

-

 

Afterwards, Quark and Odo couldn't stop grinning at each other. They ran back to Quark’s Quarters almost immediately after Sisko started fussing at Dax to clean the rice up from his carpet. 

Now they laid in bed, almost exactly how they had been 2 hours ago, except for their mussed tuxedos. Odo had shifted away the jacket and bowtie and opted for a partially unbuttoned look which, frankly, was driving Quark a little wild. 

Quark snuggled up against Odos shoulder and rested his fat head on the Constable. He slid a hand over the belly made by the baby changeling and got goosebumps when he thought he felt delicate overlapping scales brush up against his fingers.  Odo planted a kiss on top of his head and Quark felt tears prick his eyes by the sheer purity of the moment. 

 

Quark’s heart clenched painfully in his chest every time he thought of the fact that they had just gotten married. Odo. Him. 

What.. What had just happened.

Quark had woken up this morning an unmarried Ferengi- and now he was a husband. He was going to be a father. He already was. 

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He felt like he should feel trapped, or worried about this failing- but he just didn't. Everything in Quark was vibrating with stupid love for this stupid changeling. For both of the stupid changelings. 

 

-


End file.
